DAR turns over coconut consolidation facility to Sarangani coop
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has turned over a coconut consolidation area to the Tinagacan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (TARBC) in Sarangani as a form of assistance to local farmers in the area.
In a statement, DAR said that members of the TARBC will use the area to store coconut products.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Cenon S. Original said the facility was established by the DAR's Linking SmallHolder Farmers to Market with Microfinance (LinkSFARMM) program, adding that the department's LinkSFarMM project connects agrarian reform beneficiaries and smallholder farmers to the product supply chain to help them improve their quality of life.
He said the project aims to store the coconuts without compromising their quality before delivery and to provide an area for post-harvest activity such as dehusking of the coconuts while avoiding the direct sunlight that can affect the product's quality.
As per Original, the TARBC is one of the DAR-Sarangani province's agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) and the primary ARBO in the Tinagacan agrarian reform community (ARC) in General Santos City.
“Farmers will now be able to store their whole coconuts using consolidation area, creating more market opportunity that may increase their income,” said Original.
“The consolidation area for the cooperative’s coconut business is worth P180,686 which would benefit 40 member-ARBs within the cooperative, and a total of 668 ARBs within the Tinagacan ARC covering the barangays of Tinagacan, Batomelong, and Upper Labay, in the city of General Santos,” he added.