The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is eyeing the cultivation for agricultural production of the idle lands in possession of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. expressed hopes that the bureau can have a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with DENR.
Under the proposed MOA, Catapang said "lahat ng lupa na nakatiwangwang nila pwede natin i-lease or ibigay muna sa atin pansamantala, tayo muna magtatanim (all of DENR’s idle lands will be temporarily placed under the BuCor to be cultivated).”
“Gusto ko maging self-sufficient tayo (I want us to become self-sufficient),” he declared.
Catapang has been pushing for agricultural production in idle landholdings of the bureau in its prison facilities nationwide.
He cited that the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) in Palawan has been cultivating its vast land since last year under the Reformation Initiative for Sustainable Environment (RISE) for Food Security that was signed between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“Siguro sa Palawan baka pagdating ng araw P100 million a month kumikita tayo d’yan (Hopefully one day the BuCor will be earning from Palawan P100 million per month),” he said.
He had earlier said that the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) has been earning P20 million to P22 million from its business venture with the Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Incorporated (TADECO), a firm engaged in the production and export of fresh Cavendish bananas to Japan, Korea, Middle East, Hong Kong, China, Russia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore with an average production of 5,000 boxes per hectare per year.
TADECO leases 5,000 hectares from the DPPF’s property. DPPF's persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are also employed by TADECO for the packaging of its produce.