The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Pangasinan     Provincial Office and the University of the Philippines Los BaƱos   (UPLB) met on Wednesday to assess a project that aims to develop a value chain model in agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in Pangasinan.

The project, called “MAC-BBM” (Creating a Model Agrarian Community for a Sustainable Agri-Industrial Rural Development Through Building Value Chain, Boosting Capacities and Matching Markets), is a locally-funded pilot project being implemented in Pangasinan.

The Saint Paschal Baylon MPC in San Quintin, Pangasinan was chosen to benefit from the project. The project aims to help this group of farmers (known as an agrarian reform beneficiary organization or ARBO) become more involved in the value chain, particularly from rice production to marketing of processed rice to institutional and local markets.

Initiated in June 2022, the project is a two-year endeavor anticipated to finish in June of this year. The project has provided training to farmers to improve their skills in growing rice and selling processed rice to both institutional and local markets.

The UPLB Project Team has been monitoring the progress of the implementation of the project using the developed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system. (MD)