DAR: Vegetable farming to combat hunger, poverty in Camarines Sur

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) urged the Turague Agrarian Farmers Association (TAFA) in Camarines Sur to take part in the government’s Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) convergence program to boost agricultural output and income.

DAR Bicol Region Assistant Director for Operations Romulo Britanico said the increased participation of agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOS) in the EPAHP program would ensure a ready market through government and private sector partners that will purchase their produce directly.

Established on February 24, 2021, the 50-member Turague Agrarian Farmers Association (TAFA) in Sagnay town is one of the cooperatives assisted by the agency which now includes the EPAHP that will provide them with farm inputs, a series of technical training, and other assistance.

“It is the responsibility of the DAR to assist them in increasing their agricultural output, identifying institutional markets, securing official receipts, and providing them with training and farm support,” said Britanico.

As a recipient of the EPAHP, the organization received starter kits for vegetable production, including 30 free-range chickens, feeds, a greenhouse, a grass cutter, a submersible water pump, garden tools, and a variety of vegetable seeds, such as eggplant, pechay, string beans, hot pepper, tomato, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, squash, bell pepper, cauliflower, cucumber and lettuce.

“With these starter kits, and the establishment of their vegetable gardens, the TAFA will be able to supply agricultural products, particularly for the May-ogob Agrarian Reform Cooperative in Ocampo, Camarines Sur, which is the supplier of vegetables for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology,” Britanico said.

TAFA Chairman Rodel P. Encinas thanked DAR on behalf of the group’s members and said that the DAR’S help is important to the success of their association. He also urged his colleagues to keep the equipment that would be used to establish the community garden at Turague Community School.

“We are thankful for these starter kits given to us because these will give us added income for our families. We will plant them and apply what we learned to make it bountiful,” said Encinas.

Encinas, who received a halfhectare of land from DAR, said that they plan to grow high-value crops like lettuce, broccoli, and eggplant on the 800-squaremeter piece of land at the community school in Turague.