Tacloban farmers get P1.5-M funding from DAR to build a greenhouse

TACLOBAN CITY – Farmer-members of the San Agustin Rice Farmers and Livelihood Association (SANAG) received a ₱1.5 million grant from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to help and encourage them to increase their income through vegetable production.
SANAG members will establish and manage a greenhouse based on a memorandum of agreement signed between the DAR, represented by Asst. Regional Director Ismael Aya-ay and Mayor Remedios Petilla of the local government (LGU) of Palo, Leyte.
Aya-ay said the grant is taken from the Agrarian Reform Fund (ARF) for the implementation of the Sustainable and Resilient Agrarian Reform Communities (SuRe ARCs) program.
Aya-ay said that under the SuRe ARCs program, SANAG members were taught how to use greenhouse technology for their vegetable crops.
“The greenhouse facility will enable growers to plant off-season crops leading to all-year-round production. This would also translate to more productivity and higher earnings for farmers,” Aya-ay said.
Aya-ay said the SuRe ARCs program is in line with the food security program of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. It is also one of the major goals of DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III, to introduce modern farm technologies and provide modern farm equipment to agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Under the agreement, the LGU of Palo will lead in the implementation of the project through the engagement and procurement of goods and items.
The project will also provide the farmers in the locality access to quality seeds and seedlings and ensure the production of improved crop varieties and better-quality of plant materials.
Petilla expressed her appreciation and thanks to DAR for choosing her municipality as the recipient of the said project.
SANAG, a DAR-assisted farmer organization within the Palo agrarian reform community, was pre-selected to be the recipient of the greenhouse to help them expand their livelihood activities and generate more income by undertaking the enterprise-based crop nursery project of SuRe ARCs.