ARMM peasants benefit from PAMANA, regional HELPS agri support

COTABATO CITY – Dozens of peasant groups in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Friday benefited from government interventions meant to improve agricultural productivity in areas wracked by conflicts and drought.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and his agriculture secretary, Makmod Mending, Jr., jointly led the distribution at the regional government compound in Cotabato City of the farm equipment and other provisions needed to hasten the recovery of farmers from the devastation wrought by hostilities and the dry spell in many areas in the past four months.The assistance to farmers,dubbed peace and productivity acceleration support,” is a joint initiative of the ARMM government, through its Health, Education, Livelihood and Protection Synergy (ARMM-HELPS) and Malacañang’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program.The packages Hataman and Mending dispersed on Monday were comprised of mechanized corn mills, multi-cab vehicles, a light hauler truck, refrigerators for barangay communal trading centers, tarpaulin sheets which farmers can use as mats where to dry their rice and corn harvests, motorized brush cutters and other farm tools.The ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) also started on Monday the delivery of 7.9 metric tons of hybrid rice seeds to farmers in drought-stricken towns in Maguindanao.Mending said helping farmers in the province propagate high-yield rice will enable them to recover within a shorter period their losses due to the drought. Our farmers need to bounce back fast because they need money for the schooling of their children,” Mending said.Monday’s release by Hataman and Mending of farm equipment and other agricultural support packages to farmers from the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi capped off the commemoration of the 24thanniversary of the devolution of the functions and powers of the Department of Agriculture to the regional government.