P4.4-B foreign-funded DAR project in Mindanao ends this year

DAVAO CITY -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is winding up its six-year Mindanao Sustainable Agrarian and Agriculture Development Project (MinSAAD), which is aimed at improving the agricultural production and income of farmers in 12 settlement areas located in three Mindanao regions.

The MinSAAD is funded by the government of Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with a PHP3.34-billion loan, and by the Philippine government, which had a share of PHP1.05 billion. It is one of five foreign-assisted projects of the DAR.

Eduardo Suaybaguio, MinSAAD-DAR 11 (Davao Region) project manager, said Thursday the project got delayed since its inception in 2012 but its major components will hit 100-percent completion this year.

The major components of the project are the Agricultural, Agribusiness and Agro-forestry Development (AAD), Institutional Development, Rural Water Supply Development, Procurement of Equipment and Project Management.

Of the seven provinces, Suaybaguio said Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato took a lion share of the projects.

There are 73 projects in Lanao; 66 in North Cotabato; 42 in Sultan Kudarat; 23 in Bukidnon; 23 in South Cotabato; 22 in Davao del Sur, and 16 in Compostela Valley. The specific sites are within the ancestral domain, and the beneficiaries are Indigenous Peoples and agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Suaybaguio said a total of 65 infrastructure projects have been implemented, 71 are ongoing, and two were canceled. Of the 90 completed projects, Suaybaguio said 17 are farm-to-market roads, two are bridges, six are irrigation, 49 are post-harvest facilities, and 16 are rural water supply projects.

At the end of the MinSAAD, Suaybaguio said DAR and its implementing partners hope to see the gains of the projects.
In Compostela Valley alone, he said, farmers are earning 5 percent more than their previous income.

“This is just an initial assessment but the full report will be submitted at the end of the project,” Suaybaguio said.

On Thursday, the DAR and its partner agencies, among them the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Coffee Advancement Farm Enterprise (PhilCAFE), signed a memorandum of understanding for infrastructure support interventions that agencies can provide for the sustainability of the enterprise projects initiated by MinSAAD. (PNA)