Photo by Comenei Ali/BIO
COTABATO CITY—In celebration of the 4th Bangsamoro Foundation Day (BFD), a distribution of agri-fishery inputs, including released of loans and Cerificate of Land Ownership and Award (CLOA) took here place here at the Bangsamoro Government Center (BGC) on Sunday, Jan. 22.
Farmers, fisherfolks, and cooperatives benefited from the program led by the Economic Development Committee (EDCom) of the Bangsamoro Economic and Development Council (BEDC), which is chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) and the Cooperative and Social Enterprise Authority (CSEA).
MAFAR Minister Mohammad Yacob said, “we are given the opportunity to showcase what these ministries can offer to our clients and beneficiaries through the ceremonial distribution of inputs, programs, grants, assistance, and services including CLOA Land Titles,”Yacob said, noting that the BARMM is among the country’s top 5 fish producing regions.
The agri-fisheries inputs provided include:
– [ ] 1 unit Rice Transplanter worth Php340,000.00;
– [ ] 1 unit Hand tractor worth Php140,000.00;
– [ ] 1 unit Rice Thresher worth Php140,000.00;
– [ ] 1 unit Corn Sheller worth Php140,000.00;
– [ ] 1 unit Hammer Mill worth Php50,000.00;
– [ ] 100 bags of Inbred Palay Seeds-Registered Seed worth Php92,000.00;
– [ ] 50 bottles of each insecticide and herbicides with a total of Php70,000.00;
– [ ] 2,000 sachets of each 8 Assorted vegetable seeds (Eggplant, Bell Pepper, Squash, Bitter Gourd, Cucumber, Pole Sitao, Hot Pepper, Tomato and Watermelon); and
– [ ] 18,305 bottles of Foliar Fertilizers with a total cost of Php15,559,250.00.
Meanwhile, the Ministry’s Agrarian Reform distributed a total of 1,509 CLOA to provinces of Maguindanao (5 new lands), Basilan (684 new lands), Sulu (474 new lands), and Tawi-Tawi (311 new lands) with 3, 316.8542 total number of hectares.
The record shows that a total of 1,474 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) received the new land titles.
Furthermore, through MAFAR Loans for Enhancement of Necessary Development Strategies (MAFARLENDS), three (3) coops from Pikit, North Cotabato – Special Geographic Area (SGA), Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte, and Datu Piang, Maguindanao Del Sur received Php100,000.00 loan each.
The Ministry also distributed 6 units of Freezers to 6 cooperatives; 23 units of fishing net and nylon sets to 20 beneficiaries; 2,500 pieces of Tilapia fingerlings to each of 4 beneficiaries; 5 sets of freshwater gillnet to 5 beneficiaries; 4 sets of speargun with accessories to 2 beneficiaries; and 2 rolls of BB net, 5 rolls of CC net and 2 rolls of polynet to 1 cooperative.
The CSEA, through their Special Assistance for Viable Enterprise (SAVE) Program, also provided Php150,000.00 to each of the 38 cooperatives from the Provinces of Maguindanao del Sur and del Norte as assistance to the coop’s economic recovery and rehabilitation whose business operations have been severely affected by the pandemic and armed conflict. (Kasan Usop, Jr./BIO)
