Christmas came early for two cooperative groups in North Cotabato as they were gifted with a hauling truck from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Both the New Leon Multi-Purpose Cooperative with 260 members from New Leon, Aleosan, and Sto. Niño ARB Farmers Cooperative with 56 members from Kamarahan, President Roxas received a hauling truck worth P599,000 each on Dec. 15.
In a statement, the department said the trucks were given as an early Christmas gift to help the groups boost their livelihood. They were provided under the department's Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets and Microfinance (LINKSFarMM) project, which aims to make small-scale farmers boost agriculture productivity.
"These hauling vehicles will be a big help in their productivity and lessen their problem on the cost of production. If there is no vehicle to haul their produce, they will have to search and pay more, and that would be an extra cost for these cooperatives," Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Rodolfo Alburo said.
He added that even though the DAR's primary obligation is to allocate lands to farmers, the department must also ensure that the lands distributed to them are productive.