Farmers organizations from Bataan, Zambales get farm equipment from DAR

“They will also get trainings on how to operate the equipment, and also in business aspect. They can lease the equipment to other farm operators, and from the income in due time, procure additional farm equipment, which they would own also”.

ABUCAY, Bataan – Ten farmers organizations in Bataan and Zambales are recipients of farm equipment grant from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in line with the rice and vegetable farming full mechanization thrust of the agency.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Engr. Eric San Luis said 19 farm equipment that include hand tractor, power tiller, corn husker, and rice thresher were already distributed to 3 farm organizations from Bataan and 7 in Zambales.

He said 9 units of 35-horsepower 4-wheeler tractor were already delivered to them, and will also be distributed to the 10 farmers organizations anytime this week.

The granting of equipment to farmers organizations is under the agency’s Agrarian Reform Communities Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) program.

San Luis said DAR distributed farm equipment to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) in all Central Luzon provinces. He said recipient farm organizations will also undergo trainings on how to operate the equipment, and venture into business. “They will also get trainings on how to operate the equipment, and also in the business aspect. They can lease the equipment to other farm operators, and from the income in due time, procure additional farm equipments, which they would own also”, San Luis pointed out.

According to DAR, the aid primarily aims to boost mechanized farming not only in the region, but also in the entire country, in order to keep pace with Asian counterparts.

DAR’s ARCCESS program hopes to address the lack of capital, excessive physical activity, and lack of financial rewards among the agriculture sector by providing farmers the kind of support services that they badly need to make the lands awarded to them more productive and the farming profession more financially rewarding.