THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental-North awarded 66.6529-hectare land to 80 farmer-beneficiaries in Manapla town recently.

Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Myrna Omaliao, who led the individual certificate of land ownership Award (Cloa) distribution and installation rites, explained to farmers the tax duties and other responsibilities.

She urged agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to strive in cultivating bountiful harvest in order to reach economic stability, and never engage in any illegal land transactions.

The distribution involved landholdings formerly owned by Claudio De Luzuriaga Jr., Tomas Juan De Luzuriaga, Jose Maria Regalado and Josefina Jesena located at Barangays Luna and Burgos.

Under the DAR's mandate, public and private agricultural landholdings are acquired by the government to be distributed to tenants, farmers, farmworkers and other tillers who are qualified to become ARBs.

This is in the form of Cloas covering contiguous tract or several parcels of land cumulated up to a maximum of three hectares per ARB.

Its purpose is to distribute the land through Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) process under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper).

The agency, through Carp, aims to provide lands to landless farmers and farm workers, guarantee the farmers' land security, deliver social equity, and provide them with the necessary productive and emergency resources thereby ensuring their economic viability and productivity.

With Negros Occidental under the Modified General Community Quarantine, the activity complied with minimum health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Department of Health.