DAR_ARMM to distribute farm equipment to farmers on CARP's anniv

COTABATO CITY -- Moro, lumad and Christian peasant groups will receive bonuses” from the Department of Agrarian Reform during the 27thanniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on June 15.Amihilda Sangcopan, regional secretary of DAR in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Saturday said they will disperse on June 15 brand new farm tractors and other farm equipment to different farmers’ organizations in the ARMM.More than a dozen tractors procured by the agency’s national office, some now parked along a thoroughfare inside the 32-hectare ARMM compound in Cotabato City, will be distributed during the event.The DAR-ARMM shall also give out mechanized corn husking and shelling machines as part of the packages meant to boost the productivity of farmers, in support of the Mindanao peace process, which aims to restore normalcy in areas wracked by secessionist conflicts.Sangcopan said the farm equipment packages are part of DAR’s Common Service Facilities program, meant to hasten the economic growth of agrarian reform communities (ARCs).The DAR-ARMM has just initiated extensive dialogues with ARCs in component-areas of the autonomous region to determine what more interventions are needed to address poverty and underdevelopment in CARP areas.Sangcopan and her subordinate DAR officials in Maguindanao, a known bastion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, distributed last week certificates of land ownership (CLOs) to 100 farmers from across the province.The awarding of CLOs capped off last week’s first agrarian reform beneficiaries conference in Maguindanao, held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex at regional compound in Cotabato City.The activity was preceded by a similar activity in Basilan.Sangcopan said the land parcels awarded to peasants in Maguindanao were part of the 112,290 hectares of arable lands in ARMM that are still subject for distribution under CARP.The autonomous region covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.More parcels of lands will be distributed to Moro, Christian and lumad farmers in the upcoming conferences of ARMM agrarian reform beneficiaries, tentatively slated in the coming third and last quarters of 2015.Sangcopan said the rank-and-file personnel of DAR-ARMM are grateful to the chief executive of the autonomous region, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, for supporting the implementation of all of the agency’s activities.