FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER. The Department of Agrarian Reform partners with different agencies to link the products of the agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) to the needs of the agencies through the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP), an inter-agency government program initiated by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger. As of 2022, seven ARBOs have sold a total of PHP263 million worth of agri-products. (Photo courtesy of DAR Pangasinan)
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Seven agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) in the province of Pangasinan have sold PHP263 million worth of agricultural products since 2020 through the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP), an inter-agency government program initiated by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger (IATF-ZH).
In a statement on Monday, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Pangasinan provincial information officer Zarena Ann Amado said the program that was renamed EPAHP in 2019 from its previous name, Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty that began in 2016, involved over 25 government agencies, which included the DAR.
"In Pangasinan, the EPAHP was implemented in 2019. During this year, the DAR Provincial Office began meeting with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in provincial offices in preparation for establishing marketing agreements with ARBOs," she said.
She added that when the pandemic hit the country in 2020, through the EPAHP, DAR and BJMP entered into a memorandum of agreement that enabled the latter to establish marketing contracts with the ARBOs.
Amado said among the beneficiaries is the Gualsic Agriculture Cooperative, a DAR-assisted ARBO based in Alcala, Pangasinan with the majority of its members as vegetable growers.
“The group is one of the ARBOs with the highest gross product sales under the project in Pangasinan. As of August 2022, the cooperative has sold PHP1.75 million worth of produce to BJMP since their marketing contract in 2020,” she said.
Another ARBO is the Bantog Samahang Nayon Multipurpose Cooperative (BSNMPC) in Asingan, Pangasinan.
“BSNMPC is one of the most successful ARBOs in the whole nation. In 2019, it was adopted as the ARBO beneficiary of the Village-Level Farm-focused Enterprise Development project. With the partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, and the Local Government Unit, BSNMPC was able to improve its dairy product processing enterprise and secure a license to operate from the Food and Drugs Administration,” she said.
She added that in that same year, the DAR also provided funds for the improvement of its processing center located in Barangay Bantog.
“In 2020, the Department of Education (DepEd) Pangasinan II procured the services of BSNMPC for the agency’s School-Based Feeding Program Milk Component. Being the only dairy-producing enterprise in Eastern Pangasinan, the ARBO has supplied pasteurized carabao milk to schoolchildren in Division II for two years, to DepEd’s 52,000 target beneficiaries in Pangasinan II,” she said.
The ARBO has sold a total of PHP255 million worth of products and has been recognized by the DAR Central Office as the top-performing ARBOs under the hunger mitigation project.
Amado said the other ARBOs are the Rang-Ay Upland Integrated Farmers Association, Inc. of Bani and Aliguas Dumaralos na Buenlag, Inc. of Calasiao with the BJMP in Dagupan City; Carosalesan Irrigators Consumer Cooperative of Umingan and Evangelista Agrarian Reform Cooperative with the BJMP in Balungao; and Saint Pascal Baylon Multipurpose Cooperative in San Quintin with the Department of Agriculture.
“EPAHP is one of the most important projects of the government,” said DAR Ilocos regional director Maria Ana Francisco.
Meanwhile, the DAR Pangasinan organized a series of marketing forums with the DepEd and vegetable-producing ARBOs while farmer groups from eastern, western, and central Pangasinan are drafting a supply plan that may be considered by the DepEd for inclusion in the SBFP’s Nutritional Food Pack and Milk components for pupils.
Some ARBOs have also entered into a marketing agreement with BSNMPC that binds them to commit a portion of their produce to the latter if it wins the upcoming bid, Amado said. (PNA)
