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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DAR, DHSUD tie up for eco-friendly housing for farmers

DAR, DHSUD tie up for eco-friendly housing for farmers

Published Dec 7, 2020 11:01 am

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has partnered with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) for the provision of affordable and eco-friendly housing for farmers.

DAR Secretary John Castriciones (DAR / MANILA BULLETIN)

"The idea is to provide our farmers decent shelters, as well as make them self-sufficient by providing each housing unit sufficient space for state-of-the-art gardening," DAR Secretary John Castriciones said after the signing ceremony at the DHSUD office in Quezon City.

A Memorandum of Agreement was signed by DAR, DHSUD, and private developer Bellavita Land Corp. for the implementation of the "Balai Farmers Housing Program" on Dec. 4.

"This is a history in the making because there has never been a housing program for our farmers. This is the first time," Castriciones said.

He said the housing program seeks to develop affordable and eco-friendly housing designs, with production and income generating facilities for farmer-beneficiaries, in cooperation with relevant stakeholders.

The provision of housing units for farmer-beneficiaries is considered a decent follow up to agricultural lands that have been distributed to them and are continuously being done so to other still landless farmers for them to have something to till and ensure that food will always be available on the table, the DAR said.

Castriciones said that it is for this reason that the housing program was conceptualized as a way of repaying the farmers for proving their worth as food providers.

"During the pandemic, they are the ones keeping food available on our table. This should prompt us to have a paradigm shift towards them. We should strengthen them and uplift their economic life. This project, the Balai Farmers Housing Program, is a means towards that end to keep them attached to their farmlots," Castriciones said.

"By biblical or historical account, the first house that was built was closely related to food and agriculture for it was when man learned to cultivate the land that they came up with the idea of building their shelter. Therefore, agriculture and housing must be developed hand-in-hand," DAR Undersecretary Emily Padilla said.

 DAR Undersecretary Virginia Orogo noted that farming is one sector that has long been neglected yet it is the same sector that is nourishing the Filipinos. 

"It's about time that we repay our farmers by giving them decent shelter just as they are providing us nutritious food," Orogo said.

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