Agrarian reform beneficiaries in Eastern Samar receive 10 coco twining machines

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February 5, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte – The productivity of the members of the Carmen Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative in Hernani, Eastern Samar, is expected to be enhanced after they received ten coco twining machines, Jo Fabile of DAR Eastern Samar and DAR 8 Information Officer John Alsmith Soria informed.

Coco twine production in Eastern Samar
A member of the Carmen Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative with her children working together in producing coco twines at home. (PIA 8/alsmith)

The Department of Agrarian Reform officials who witnessed the distribution of the ten twining machines must have been smiling to themselves, proud of having empowered these agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Hernani Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Susana Monteclaro said that the Department of Agrarian Reform thru the first phase of the Agrarian Reform Community Project funded by the Asian Development Bank, gave the said cooperative P20,000 last year, as financial assistance for its livelihood activities.

The members and officers of the Carmen Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative used the fund in assembling ten coco twining machines which were distributed mid January 2008, to ten of their members for them to produce coco twines.

MARO Monteclaro informed that finished products are being bought by the Hernani Coconut Processing Plant, at one peso for every meter of coco twine the members produce. Most of the members are able to earn P300.00 per day, depending on how industrious they are and how much coco twines they produce.

By giving the members coco twine machines, DAR and the Cooperative are empowering these agrarian reform beneficiaries, an alternative livelihood, instead of just farming which is the main occupation.

An additional daily income of P300.00 is indeed a very good inspiration to these agrarian reform beneficiaries because all their products will be bought by the Hernani Coconut Processing Plant which was funded by the national government.

The coco twines are used into coco textile which is very much in demand in China and other countries because these are used to prevent soil erosion among others.

Coco products offer range of comprehensive and technologically advanced natural erosion control system to stabilize soil and promote vegetation. Coco Geotextiles constructed out of coir, biodegradable fiber made from coconut husks degrade naturally at a rate allowing for the recolonization of the ground by plants. These products protect the site from erosion, retain moisture and nutrients and allow roots to develop naturally. Coco geotextile are both ecologically and economically beneficial. Ecologically beneficial because the six million coconut husks that constitute the biggest bulk of the country's farm waste which harm the environment when burned can be converted into geotextiles instead that can be used to protect river banks from soil erosion.