Improved and aggressive marketing efforts have resulted in significant increase in the sales of agriculture products of farmers in the country in 2021, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

DAR Sec. Bernie Cruz said the marketing strategies led to P2.01 billion gross sales for 1,800 farmers' organizations that participated in the department's year-long marketing initiatives.

The amount is P600 million higher than the P1.41 billion sold last year ," Cruz said, citing the consolidated report by the DAR-Support Services Office for 2021.

PaSSOver for ARBold Move for Deliverance of ARBs (agrarian reform beneficiaries) from COVID-19, or ARBold Move topped the sales chart with P563,67 million. In this initiative, farmers' organizations sell their products in COVID-affected areas with insufficient supplies of basic commodities.

The "Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP)" came second with P473.1 million. Followed by the Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets and Microfinance (LinkSFarMM) with P309.02 million; the Project ConVERGE (Convergence on Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment), P196.21 million; and the Village Level Focused Enterprise Development (VLFED) project, P133.9 million.

Other DAR projects that have contributed to the cause are the Climate Resiliency Farm Productivity Support Project, P110.91 million; the Convergence on Livelihood Assistance for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Project (CLAAP), P108.32 million; the Farm Business School, P81.64 million; the ARBold Move-Component 2, P15.94 million; the ARBold Move-Component 3, P9.28 million; the Mindanao Sustainable Agrarian and Agriculture Development (MinSAAD), P5.13 million; DAR-Pilmico partnership, P551,188 and, the DAR-Sara municipal government partnership, P254,089.

"This is a big accomplishment for the Department as it helps boost the morale of farmers' organizations to believe in themselves," Cruz said.