RAISING PRODUCTIVITY. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim (2nd from left) and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform Minister Mohammad Yacob (left) hand over a tractor to the representatives of farmers’ cooperatives during the regional government's 4th founding anniversary on Sunday (Jan. 22, 2023). The inputs and equipment are aimed at raising the agricultural productivity of the region's farmers and fisherfolk. (Photo courtesy of the Bangsamoro Information Office)
COTABATO CITY – The Bangsamoro agriculture office distributed Sunday over PHP21 million agri-fishery inputs and equipment to farmers’ cooperatives, including loans and Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs).
As part of the 4th Bangsamoro Foundation Day (BFD), The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) handed over rice transplanter, hand tractor, rice thresher, corn sheller, hammer, inbred palay seeds, insecticide and herbicides, assorted vegetable seeds and foliar fertilizers.
The office also distributed a total of 1,509 CLOAs to 1,474 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in the provinces of Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi covering 3,316 hectares.
Together with the Cooperative and Social Enterprise Authority (CSEA), MAFAR also provided PHP100,000 loan each to farmers’ cooperatives under the Loans for Enhancement of Necessary Development Strategies (MAFARLENDS).
“We are given the opportunity to showcase what the ministries can offer to our clients and beneficiaries through these inputs, programs, grants, assistance, and services including CLOA land titles,” MAFAR Minister Mohammad Yacob said in a statement Monday.
Yacob said MAFAR also handed over freezers to six cooperatives, fishing gears, tilapia fingerlings and other equipment to increase productivity of fisherfolk in the region.
Likewise, each of the 38 farmers’ cooperatives received a PHP150,000 financial assistance from MAFAR to help them cushion the impact of the pandemic and armed conflicts. (PNA)
