Philippines
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DA continues program linking agrarian reform beneficiaries to markets to sell agri products
DA continues program linking agrarian reform beneficiaries to markets to sell agri products
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) continues to assist and provide the agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) a market for their produce by linking them with government and private institutions.
DAR Undersecretary Emily Padilla said it is very important that the fruits of the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) initiative trickle down to the agrarian reform beneficiaries.
The DAR spearheaded efforts to link farmers to possible market outlets for their harvests after the government imposed quarantine measures at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which limited the people’s movements and deprived farmers to go out and sell their harvests.
DAR Secretary John Castriciones then appealed to the Inter Agency-Task Force to allow farmers to deliver and sell their harvests to areas critically affected by the virus to turn to “gold” the perishable farm goods.
The agency thereafter started linking farmers to various government and private institutions, such as the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Medical Mission Group, a federation of private hospitals, to serve as possible marketing outlets for their harvests.
Padilla, however, raised the possibility of only the ARBOs benefiting from the initiative. Instead, she asked the ARBOs to help their farmer-members sell their agricultural products.
Renaldo Maido, chairman of the Agusan del Sur-based La Fortuna Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Lamupco), assured Padilla that their members are taken care of as the cooperative gives back what is due them, with an added incentive.
Lamupco is just one of the ARBOs the DAR is assisting and linking to various government and private institutions in a bid to spare them from dealing with traders out to buy their harvests at a very low price.
Through the EPAHP initiative, Padilla said the DAR is envisioning to eradicate hunger and poverty.
“From the farm alone, about 20 to 30 percent of the harvest is classified as ‘reject.’ Then, another 20 to 30 percent are not sold in the market and are ending up rotting. We might as well sell them at a very low price. That way, the farmers gain from those would-be wastage while enabling the poorest of the poor to afford buying them. No Filipino should be left hungry,” she added.