ZARRAGA, ILOILO – Continuous efforts to improve farmers’ agricultural production was further enhanced as the Department of Agrarian Reform turned over a rice transplanter worth at least P1.5 million to the Inagdangan Centro Farmers Association (ICFA) of the Zarraga Agrarian Reform Community.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Lucrecia Taberna said the rice transplanter is just one of the many support services that are being provided to the farmers and their associations and/or cooperatives for them to enhance their farm productivity thereby increasing their household income.
She stressed that DAR is extending efforts to reach out to more small farmers association/cooperatives to facilitate access to the various interventions which they may avail to help them attain a better quality of life.
Taberna also said sustainability is very important in order to create impact and to avoid waste of government’s resources.
She added that farmers should organize themselves into a cooperative and not just to remain as a mere association so they can have better access to a wide range of government’s intervention and even from other funding institutions.
Zarraga Mayor John Tarrosa urged the farmers to take good care of the said equipment through proper maintenance and further advised them that they come up with an operational manual to guide them on how to properly utilize the rice transplanter so they can maximize its benefit and likewise they can sustain their rice block farming to create impact in their lives.
The provision of rice transplanter is under the Climate Resiliency Farm Productivity Support Project implemented by DAR through its support services program component. It aims to improve farm productivity and increase the net income of agrarian reform beneficiaries in a sustainable manner through their organizations. (With DAR Iloilo/PN)
