Saturday, September 22, 2007 Agrarian reform extension sought
AS THE Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) nears its end, leaders in Cordillera are seeking the extension of a program to benefit more farmers.
The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC), in a resolution, has urged the House of Representatives and the Senate to extend the Carp beyond 2008, saying several agrarian reform communities (ARCs) still need the assistance provided by the program.
The Carp law was passed in 1988 in a bid to give lands to landless farmers. In Cordillera, a total of 168,559 hectares of land were distributed, which helped 94,061 agrarian reform beneficiaries. The program ended in 1998 but was extended for another 10 years.
Support services such as infrastructure development, technology transfer, production and marketing assistance as well as aids to farmer-cooperatives are also among the programs implemented under Carp.
In order to safeguard, sustain and further expand the improvements and benefits of the program, the RDC said there is a need to extend the implementation of Carp beyond June 2008 as a total of 36,728 hectares of agricultural lands in the region are yet to be covered by Carp.
The Benguet Provincial Board (PB) supported the call to extend the program. The PB said around 7,717 hectares of farm lands in the province are still to be covered by the program.
"There is (also) a need to continue the P168 million worth of livelihood and infrastructure projects that the Agrarian Reform Fund and international donors invest to our ARCs in the 13 municipalities to empower these beneficiaries to directly and effectively manage a sustainable economic, socio-cultural and political developments of their own," the PB stated in a resolution. (JC)
