Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS)

The project, “Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS)”, is DAR’s strategic intervention to retain the awarded lands of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through increased production and engagement in agri-based and related enterprises. The project has five major components which include provision on common service facilities (CSFs) for production and processing, agri-technology and agri-extension services, business development services, credit facilitation, and land tenure improvement.  The project aims to strengthen the ARB organizations by building them as hubs of support services in the community which are expected to contribute to increasing   ARB household incomes and improve resiliency of ARB households.  See also… FAQs on ARCCESS

The PBD component supports the major strategies identified under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) in accordance with the Agriculture sector’s goals of improving food security and increasing income, increasing resilience to climate change risks, and enhancing policy environment and governance (AFMA Plan, 2011-2017).  The strategies include the following:

  1. Raise the productivity and incomes of agriculture and fishery-based households and enterprises;
  2. Increase investments and employment across efficient value chains;
  3. Increase the resilience of agriculture communities through the development of climate-resilient agricultural infrastructure and climate-responsive food production systems, and provision of support services to the most vulnerable communities;
  4. Strengthen the agriculture and fisheries insurance system as an important risk-sharing mechanism;
  5. Reaffirm the mechanisms and objectives of the National Convergence Initiative (NCI); and
  6. Pursue public-private partnerships, especially for infrastructure and value-chain development.
The current PBD thrust emphasizes the integration and complementation of support services provision primarily through the ARB organizations (ARBOs).  It builds on previous strategies focusing on the ARB organization as conduit for support services provision in ARCs and non-ARCs. Infrastructure projects shall complement all the other interventions under the 3 major sub-MFOs (SILCAB, SARED and AFAES).
 

 

1. Agri-technology/Agri-extension (AES)

  • Provision of appropriate technologies based on research and development (R and D), through ARB field schools and demonstration farms for diffusion of knowledge and skills and transfer of technologies for sustained and enhanced crop yields.

2. Business Development Services (BDS) 

  • Applicable and necessary organizational, marketing, financial and/or production and technical management services for ARBOs
  • Business incubation or professional handholding to strengthen the capacity of organization to manage the CSF-based business by itself.   Back-office support such as improvement in bookkeeping and record-keeping efforts to strengthen the legal and financial records of ARB groups may  also be provided
  • Technical assistance in enhancing the internal crop consolidation/marketing system of the ARBOs

3. Common Service Facilities (CSF)

  • Provision of farm production and post harvest machineries and equipment to ARBOs for use as business assets, for complementation with BDS and agri-extension services.
  • CSFs are expected to increase yield and promote and achieve economies of scale.  
 
4. Credit & Microfinance

  • Strengthening the capacity of ARB organizations to access credit facilities, retail and collect individual ARB loans through their organizations.
  • DAR’s partnership with the DA d the LBP called “Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP)” has streamlined the documentary requirements for easier access, coupled with more attractive interest rates.
 
5. Agri-insurance (crops and livestock)

  • DAR’s partnership with the DA-Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation to implement the Agri-Insurance Program (AIP) to mitigate the risks involved in agricultural production.
  • Priority on agri-insurance is given to those which were provided access to credit through APCP and ARCCESS-supported ARBOs; Agri-insurance subsidy to further facilitate the flow agri-credit from private financing institutions.

6. Rural infrastructure (RI)

  • Strategic Farm-to-Market Roads (FMR), Bridges & Irrigation allocated to complement to the agricultural production and marketing requirements of ARB organizations.
  • DAR continues to identify and validate FMRs that support its locally funded projects which are submitted to the Department of Agriculture for funding.
 
7. Land tenure improvement and stability

  • Fielding of LTI-PBD facilitators to speed-up land acquisition & distribution in new lands.
  • Assistance on subdivision of mother titles and transfer of land titles to heirs and other successors for distributed lands

2024 Department of Agrarian Reform.