The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has started to conduct tracing of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Nueva Vizcaya to determine the current state of the country’s land reform program.
DAR Secretary John Castriciones said the activity, dubbed as "Kumustasaka," is meant to validate the existing owners, crops planted, and kinds of support services needed to enhance farm productivity.
Castriciones said the Kumustasaka, which is in the pilot-testing stage, seeks to pinpoint the real farmer-beneficiaries to whom the DAR intends to extend much-needed assistance.
"The idea here is to find out if the farmlots that had been distributed to them are still being tilled by them. We also wanted to know their current economic status and what do they need to increase their farm produce and increase their income," Castriciones said during the farm visit, called "ARBisitahan."
He explained that Kumustasaka and ARBisitahan work in unison as DAR officials and staff visit the farmer-beneficiaries right at their respective homes and find out how they stand economically after awarding to them their farmlots.
DAR Undersecretary for Support Services Emily Padilla said these visits also seek to ascertain who are the actual farmer-beneficiaries.
Padilla observed that in the, past distributions of farm inputs had been distributed even if "some of them are not actually farmer-beneficiaries."
"We want to make sure that all the assistance that the DAR extends are given to the rightful farmer-beneficiaries," she said.
DAR Undersecretary for Planning, Policy and Research Virginia Orogo said the activities would be of great help for the DAR to figure out how far the government’s land reform program has fared after 48 years of implementation.
She added that it is about time that the DAR comes up with a complete profile of each agrarian reform beneficiary to see the rate of progress of the program.
"It will serve as our barometer that will guide us where we are doing well and where our presence is needed the most," Orogo said.