The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is expanding its market linkage to further help the country’s agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) access more agribusiness opportunities so they can eventually break free from poverty.
“We’re increasingly connecting ARBs to potential markets,” said Gomer Tumbali, acting deputy national program director for operations of DAR’s ARB Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Development Program (AREDP).
He said DAR-AREDP has ongoing discussions with several private groups regarding the matter so the agency can negotiate the best agribusiness deals possible for more ARBs nationwide.
Such groups represent potential ready markets for the ARBs, he noted.
Latest available data show DAR facilitated during first semester of 2010 the signing of 646 marketing contracts between agribusiness firms and farmers’ organizations in agrarian reform and communities and other areas.
Such action generated negotiated sales of nearly PhP360 million, DAR reported.
DAR’s assistance to ARBs also helped create during the reference period almost 36,640 jobs in the country.
Product-market matching, assistance in preparing business plans, skills training and provision of funding are among DAR’s support for promoting ARBs’ livelihood.
DAR is bullish about enhancing its support for ARBs this year particularly as government earlier appropriated P1.25 billion for the agency’s Program Beneficiaries Development (PBD) activities.
“Such appropriation is several times more than the P256 million PBD budget for 2010,” said DAR Finance and Administration Service Director Tess Panlilio.
She noted Congress approved DAR’s proposal to re-align P1 billion from funding for the agency’s foreign-assisted projects supporting ARBs since local governments concerned encountered difficulty in implementing these.
PBD, land tenure improvement and agrarian justice delivery are the components of government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
Tumbali reported DAR-AREDP is studying how ARBs can help run, under a profit-sharing arrangement, operations in Korea International Cooperation Agency-backed integrated rice processing complexes across the country.
“ARBs can also increase their income by selling palay for processing in those complexes,” he noted.
He said such complexes are already being built in Pangasinan, Bohol, Iloilo and Davao.
DAR-AREDP is also looking into how ARBs can avail of agribusiness opportunities in biofuel production from sugarcane, Tumbali added.
“A [biofuel] complex will rise in Isabela province – we’re urging our farmers to take advantage of that market,” he said.
Even Ginebra San Miguel company approached DAR-AREDP about possible ARB production of cassava, Tumbali further said.
He noted the cassava will be fermented to produce alcohol for Ginebra’s gin.
Tumbali earlier said DAR-AREDP is negotiating, on ARBs’ behalf, a sugarcane contract farming deal with softdrink giant Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc.
DAR-AREDP is upbeat about sealing this deal before 2011 ends, noting Coca-Cola already signified interest in partnering with ARBs on producing sugar which is a component of softdrinks.
“There’s already a verbal agreement to work together on this,” said Tumbali.
He noted DAR-AREDP is already reviewing the draft agreement Coca-Cola prepared for the proposed contract farming.
Tumbali said DAR is becoming more market-driven as the agency believes ARBs can be encouraged to increase and enhance their production if there are sure buyers of their products and services.
“A ready, stable market can facilitate production,” he said.
He noted DAR will continue promoting upscaled production -particularly for rice, corn and coconut- so ARBs can increase their market share.
To help enhance ARBs’ productivity, Tumbali said DAR will continue adapting systems and technologies that other agencies and the private sector developed.
DAR-AREDP is already looking into the possibility of ARBs using a small extracting machine so they can collectively process coconut oil in their communities, Tumbali said.
He noted the research group that developed the machine proposed such village-level coconut oil processing activity.
If such proposal pushes through, he said, ARBs concerned stand to earn more from selling both copra and coconut oil. [PNA]
