Calbayog farmer group receives greenhouse, farm tools from DAR

By JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
October 21, 2023

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar – Though Barangay Panoypoy is among the remotest villages in this city, farmers here never felt they were forsaken by the government.

Barangay Panoypoy is 18 kilometers away from the city proper.

Almost all government agencies extended assistance to us, said Pedro Abajo, president of the Panoypoy Farmers Association (PFA), when the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) turned over to them a greenhouse facility and various farm implements.

This is a big opportunity given to us by DAR, Abajo said. We were given lands to till, and now we receive farm tools, he added.

Abajo encouraged his members to grab this opportunity, “Let us plant vegetables, because after three months, we can already harvest and generate income.”

Samar Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Alfonso Catorce disclosed during the said occasion that among the priorities of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III is the provision of modern farm equipment, fertilizers, and other farm implements and inputs to agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) to help agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) make their awarded lands productive.

Catorce encouraged the members of the PFA to invite other ARBs to join any farmer organization assisted by the DAR so they could also avail of the different programs of the government.

Thelma Alfaro, chief of the Program Beneficiaries Development Division of the DAR Samar Provincial Office, explained that the DAR provided PFA a greenhouse so the latter would be able to produce high valued crops, such as lettuce, broccoli, and carrots, and supply whatever is required of them by institutional buyers.

Recently, DAR linked PFA to Calbayog City District Jail as a ready market for their products under Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (PAHP) being implemented by DAR under its Enterprise Development and Economic Support (EDES) program.

According to Alfaro, with DAR’s intervention, PFA and Calbayog City District Jail entered into a marketing agreement in July this year. Under the agreement, Calbayog City District Jail will purchase farm products from PFA for the daily food requirements of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

Aside from the greenhouse, DAR also provided PFA various farm tools and farm inputs, which included shovels, garden rakes, pick mattocks, suction hose, watering cans, farming boots, bolos, plastic mulches and seeds. All these amounted to P402,500.00, said Alfaro.

Meanwhile, City Agriculturist, Engr. Techie Pagunsan, who was present during the said occasion, expressed gratitude to DAR officials “for being a partner in developing the agriculture sector.”

On this same occasion, Pagunsan also turned over several farm tools and fertilizers to PFA. Her office will be providing the necessary training to the said farmer group.

Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO) Jose Arropo shared that PFA is composed of 113 members, 69 of them are ARBs.