A foreign-funded project assisted the projects of at least 16 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) in Agusan del Sur. Project Converge, which is funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Philippine government, has already helped 2,028 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and 844 smallholder farmers since the start of its interventions in 2017 in the province. Project Converge stands for Convergence on Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment. In a phone interview on Saturday, Provincial Agrarian Reform Office II Loida Jones of the Department of Agrarian Reform-Agusan del Sur said of the 16 ARBO beneficiaries, one was categorized as a leading organization while the rest were considered as participating organizations during the duration of the program which concluded Thursday. ‘The Southern Agusan Multi-Purpose Cooperative or SAMPCO in the town of Trento was the lead ARBO during the span of implementation of the Project Converge in the province while the 15 other ARBOs are from the towns of Veruela, Bunawan, and Sta. Josefa,’ Jones said. She said the lead ARBO takes charge of the processing and marketing of the farm products while the participating ARBOs are involved in the production. ‘The SAMPCO received PHP28,058,134.51 worth of interventions, which include the PHP5.4 million multi-pass rice mill and the PHP3.1 million recirculating mechanical dryer. The group also received farm tractors, hauling trucks, and other processing equipment from the Project Converge,’ Jones said. The rice mill and other processing equipment, she added, played a vital role in the processing of the produced and harvested palay (unhusked rice) from the participating ARBOs. The other 15 ARBOs received PHP23,447,671.57 in the form of farm machinery and equipment needed in palay production. Project Converged also capacitated the ARBOs through a series of training from 2022 to 2023. The training processes included planning and management, business planning and marketing, formulation of the annual development plan and budgeting, organic fertilizer production, packaging and labeling of products, rice processing quality control, competency of operations in handling equipment, environmental and pollution control, and diagnostic assessment. ‘The interventions of the Project Converge have big impacts on the lives of our ARBS in the four towns in Agusan del Sur,’ Jones said. The ARBOs now have the capacity to increase their farm production and were able to establish linkages not only in the province but also in the entire region in the marketing of their farm products, she added.
Source: Philippines News Agency