BACOLOD CITY –– Forty-six agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) in Murcia, Negros Occidental received their land
titles and were subsequently installed on a 79-hectare property in
Barangay Caliban on Wednesday.
The distribution of the certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) and the installation rites were led by personnel of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Negros Occidental-North.
Antonia Figueroa, officer-in-charge of Municipal
Agrarian Reform Program Office, said they recognized the cooperation of
the former landowner in the successful implementation of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The 46 installed Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in Barangay Caliban in Murcia, Negros Occidental of Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Office and personnel of the Department of Agrarian Reform Negros Occidental-North pose for a picture on Wednesday (Feb. 7, 2019). Photo courtesy of DAR-Negros Occidental North
The awarded landholdings was previously owned by Ma. Cecilia Arguelles Gonzaga.
Figueroa
oriented the beneficiaries on their rights and obligations, which
include regularly paying their respective amortizations and land taxes.
The previous landowner asked the ARBs not to lease the awarded lands, but instead make it more productive.
“I have agreed to subject these lands to CARP believing that we are all mere stewards or caretakers of God creation,” she added.
For his part, Caliban village chief Antonio Luis Gonzaga expressed his support to the programs of the DAR.
He also encouraged the beneficiaries to take good care of the land and to fulfill their obligations.
In response, Dionesia Banquillo, one of the beneficiaries, expressed her gratitude to the government and the former landowner for granting them the land titles. (PNA)
BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) 6 (Western Visayas) has supported the bid of the Negros Occidental provincial government to diversify its agriculture sector to cushion the effects of the proposed sugar import liberalization and other industry woes.
DA-6 Director Remelyn Recoter, during the Negros First
Transformative Agriculture Summit on Thursday, said their agency can
assist in the implementation of a potential conversion through the
provision of both soft and hard support.
Recoter said soft support
includes seeds, planting materials, training and research, while hard
support covers irrigation, farm mechanization, farm-to-market roads, and
other farm infrastructure.
The Province of Negros Occidental conducted the Negros First Transformative Agriculture Summit in Talisay City on Thursday (Jan. 31, 2019) to craft a five-year agriculture development plan amid the woes faced by the sugar industry. Photo courtesy of Negros Occidental Capitol PIO
“These are the areas where we can work on,” she added.
Diversification
is one of the main components of the five-year agriculture development
plan crafted during the summit held at Nature’s Village Resort in
Talisay City.
The province plans to reduce by 30,000 hectares its
total land area of about 189,000 hectares devoted to sugarcane, and
diversify into other crops, such as yellow corn, rice, high-value crops
(HVC), and tropical fruits.
Former governor Rafael Coscolluela,
provincial consultant on investment promotions, export, and trade
development, said the biggest area for diversification is intended for
yellow corn at 15,000 hectares.
Yellow corn is needed for livestock and poultry sector of the province.
The
remaining 15,000 hectares will be equally converted to rice, HVC with
integrated poultry and livestock, and tropical fruits or 5,000 hectares
for each crop.
Coscoluella said the conversion area of 30,000
hectares is just a target, and the provincial government can still be
ambitious if there is a potential for other crops.
“Ultimately,
the deciding factor is profitability so we will go where there is higher
profit,” he said, adding that the major challenge is how to encourage
planters and farmers to diversify.
Recoter said that
diversification would not mean “forgetting” the sugar industry,
considered as the lifeblood of the province, which is the country’s top
sugar producer.
She said Negros Occidental will still be a sugar-producing province.
Western Visayas, mostly Negros Occidental, contributes 55 percent to the Philippines’ PHP96-billion sugar industry.
The
DA official also said the Sugar Regulatory Administration has programs
on increasing the yield despite the reduction of areas devoted to
sugarcane.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-6 is
also banking on the diversification plan to prepare the agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) on the possible adverse effects of the proposed
sugar import liberalization.
DAR-6 Regional Director Stephen Leonidas said on the sidelines of the summit that under their agency’s effort alone, there are about 100 hectares of agrarian areas in the province utilized for organic farming, vegetable, rice and corn farming, and livestock growing.
Leonidas said the ARBs are gradually shifting to other crops so they will not be adversely affected.
“We are preparing for that whatever effects, negative or positive, to our ARBs,” he said.
Negros Occidental has larger ARB-covered areas compared to other provinces in the country.
Leonidas said the sugar import deregulation would impact both big planters and small farmers, including ARBs.
An open-market importation would result in competition among local and foreign products, he added.
“Given
the lower price of local sugar, it would be difficult for ARBs to
compete as they are not yet ready,” the DAR official said.
In Negros Occidental, the average area for ARBs is one to 1.5 hectares per farmer. There are about 74,000 ARBs in the southern part of the province alone. (PNA)
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