Farmer
organization from a remote Samar village receives farm equipment
from DAR
Samar
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Alfonso
Catorce turns over various farm equipment to the Panoypoy
Farmers Association in Calbayog City. |
By
JESSA LABAGALA
November 23, 2022
CALBAYOG CITY, Samar
– An agrarian reform beneficiaries organization (ARBO) from this
city’s far-flung village rejoiced as they received another set of
farm equipment from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
“We thank you DAR for
listening to our concerns, for granting us what you had committed,”
said Pedro Abajo, president of the Panoypoy Farmers Association (PFA),
as he expressed gratitude to DAR officials for fulfilling their
promise.
On October 21 this year,
DAR Samar provincial chief, Alfonso Catorce, formally turned over to
PFA a hand tractor with rotavator, a water pump with suction and
discharge hose, a grass cutter and several garden tools.
Catorce disclosed that the
said equipment, with a combined amount of P260,250.00 were funded
under DAR’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support (CRFPS)
project.
According to him, the
distribution of common service facilities is in line with Agrarian
Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III’s nine primary goals which
include the provision of modern farm equipment.
PFA identified the above
mentioned common service facilities as what they badly need in their
daily farm activities, which DAR provided under CRFPS’ Sustainable
Livelihood Support to Disaster Affected Areas.
Abajo Shared that the
newly acquired equipment “will surely benefit our members.”
Thelma Alfaro, chief of
the Program Beneficiaries Development Division (PBDD) reminded the
recipient ARBO of their responsibility to maintain the equipment in
good condition and provide a secured storage facility.
Meanwhile City Councilor
Minda Pasacas, who is a resident of this village, and Barangay
Chairperson Maria Princess Montaner, both expressed their gratitude
to DAR for the never-ending support to the agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) here. “From providing them lands to till, to
livelihood assistance, to linking them to institutional buyers, and
now PFA receives another set of farm equipment from DAR,” said
Montaner.
Municipal Agrarian Reform
Program Officer (MARPO) Jose Arropo further shared that PFA is
composed of 113 members, where 69 of them are ARBs. PFA is into hog
raising and organic vegetable production, Arropo added.