Various agricultural needs amounting to P775,000 were recently doled out by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to farmer groups in Camarines Sur to help them start and sustain their livelihood.
Farming inputs such as rice seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides were handed over by the DAR to 31 farmers who are members of the Caranan Farmers Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (CFARBA) in Barangay Quitang, Pasacao, and Lirag Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (LARFBCO) in Barangay Lirag, Bula.
The CFARBA received P325,000 worth of agricultural inputs while LARFBCO got P450,000 for the same goods.
“The farmers in these areas normally buy their farming needs in Poblacion and others must travel far to Naga City just to find their farming needs,” DAR-Camarines Sur Support Services Chief Augusto SA. Medina Jr. said.
The assistance from DAR came at a time when farmers in the country have to face massive losses and bankruptcy due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as many of them experience difficulties in selling their hard-earned produce with the imposition of travel restrictions.
Medina explained that the agricultural inputs will serve as the farmers’ start-up capital or supply for their agricultural inputs trading business, which supply commonly-used agricultural inputs to smallholder farmers in their communities.
Jaime Abonita, chairperson of LARFBCO, expressed confidence that “the project will bring progress to their organization little by little and will eventually help them supply the needs of the farmers.”
The DAR, in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), provides assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) through Convergence on Livelihood Assistance for ARBs Project (CLAAP), allowing farmers to establish various livelihood projects besides their regular farming activities.