8 ARB organizations receive tools from FAO

By JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
August 18, 2014

TACLOBAN CITY – Eight agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) from five Samar and Leyte towns received farm tools from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on separate occasions since July 31 up to August 4 as part of the rehabilitation process in typhoon “Yolanda” affected areas.

A total of 188 sets of farm tools comprised of a shovel, a bolo and a hoe were distributed by Fidel Rodriguez, FAO Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, to the Caticugan Farmers Association, San Juan Farmers and Fishermen Association and the Pagsulhugon Irrigators Association, all within the San Juanico agrarian reform community (ARC) in the municipality of Sta. Rita in the morning of July 31, and the Legaspi Farmers and Fishermen Association and the Kauswagan han Canyoyo Consumers Cooperative, both within the Marabut ARC in Marabut town in the afternoon of the same day.

On August 1 he handed the tools to the Tulusahay Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Julita, Leyte; while on August 4 Rodriguez distributed the same to the St. Benedict Association for Sustainable Farming and the Jaro Agrarian Reform Cooperative of Tunga and Jaro, Leyte, respectively.

Sixty-eight sets of tools were distributed in Sta. Rita, 33 sets were distributed to the two ARBOs in Marabut, 12 sets were distributed in Julita, while 75 sets were distributed to the Tunga ang Jaro ARBOs.

FAO, according to Rodriguez, tied up with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to prioritize the ARBOs because the latter are more organized and active compared to other farmer organizations.

He emphasized that each set of tools is given to a group of five members who are going to share these farm inputs donated by the governments of Ireland and Belgium thru the United Nations.

Rodriguez was assisted by Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officers (MARPOs) Brenda Boller, Chito de la Torre and Norman Diaz during the distribution in Sta. Rita, Marabut and in the Leyte Municipalities, respectively.

Benderito Dacuno, 62, chairman of the Legaspi Farmers and Fishermen Association in thanking the donors said that these are what they need now because all their tools were swept away by “Yolanda”. At the moment, they are just borrowing tools from other villages, he added.

Earlier, FAO also distributed 2,486 bags (40 kilogram per bag) of certified rice seeds and equal number of urea (50 kilogram per bag) to rice farmers.