THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental is upbeat that the three-day caravan has boosted the implementation of its land reform program in the southern part of the province.
Dubbed “Carper Campaign Caravan,” the activity from July 16 to 18 covered 288 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in cities of Bago and Kabankalan, and town of La Castellana.
This forms part of the agency’s celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper).
It was in collaboration with DAR-Negros Occidental’s Agrarian Reform beneficiaries Development Sustainability Program and Agrarian Legal Services Division, and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).
During the activity, the farmer-beneficiaries were taught of the agency's programs and projects including support services which they can avail to make their land productive thereby increasing the household income.
They were also provided legal assistance through the Agrarian Reform Justice on Wheels (Arjow), a program devised to fast-track the resolution of pending agrarian cases within the agency.
This innovation was launched a couple of years ago in pilot agrarian reform communities (ARCs) as a measure to promptly resolve land disputes.
This is vital in fulfillment of the DAR’s mandate to emancipate and empower farmers enabling them to become new breed of small landowners capable of improving their welfare.
Also, they were oriented on the enrollment of the farmers’ agricultural crops and livestock to the PCIC.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer I Enrique Paderes, in his message, encouraged the ARBs to continue cultivating the awarded land assuring them that the agency has various support services and programs.
“ARBs should stop the ariendo system once and for all for the future of their children who will be heirs of their land,” he stressed. (EPN)