Coco farmers get support from DAR

NAVAL, BILIRAN –Agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in Biliran continue to receive support from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) as part of the numerous assistance extended by the agency to spur growth in the countryside.

DAR Regional Director Alexis Arsenal said that DAR partnered with local-based non-government organizations, civil society organizations and people’s organizations to provide more support to coconut farmers.

“We want to improve the coconut industry by introducing innovations to increase coconut production and develop high value-adding enterprises that would eventually establish market linkages locally and internationally,” Arsenal added.

Just recently, the DAR delivered a shredding machine worth Php 70,000 and a rice hull carbonizer to the Federation of ARC cooperatives (FeCARB) in this province, in support to the latter’s bio-organic fertilizer production project.

The machine was fabricated by the Visayas State University and was jointly funded by the ARB Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Development Program-Sustainable Integrated Coconut Area Development (AREDP-SICAD) and the Philippine Coconut Authority-Coconut Genetic Network (PCA-COGENT).

According to Arsenal, AREDP-SICAD’s project assistance also includes copra trading and banana production. “At present, 5,000 hectares of coco lands in the province are being transformed into coconut farms intercropped with bananas. So far, SICAD has intercropped 26,453 hectares already,” Arsenal said.

In 2009, AREDP-SICAD released P287,000 for the copra trading, bio-organic fertilizer production and banana production activities of the federation.

In 2010, the federation also received equipment from the Philippine Export Inc. such as decorticating, twining and combing machines for the farmers’ coco coir and geo-textile production project.

“Being one of the poorest province in the country, an invigorated coconut industry can boost the economic activity in Biliran,” Arsenal said.

AREDP-SICAD was introduced in Biliran in 2006 and extends six ARCs in the towns of Biliran, Almeria, Cabucgayan and Caibiran. The program has so far benefited some 1,500 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

AREDP National Director Dominador Andres said that the program’s main objective is to transform small coconut farmers, particularly agrarian beneficiaries, from mere agricultural producers to agri-business entrepreneurs by engaging them in coconut enterprises like geotextile, cocopeat, charcoal and other copra products.

“With the support extended by DAR to our coco farmers, we expect their household income to increase as the coconut industry in this island-province is seen in our studies to boom in the near future,” said Andres.