The Department of Finance (DoF) secured a P4.69-billion fund from the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (UN-IFAD) to help agrarian reform beneficiaries in Apayao, Mountain Province, Kalinga, Ifugao, Benguet and Abra comprising the Cordillera Administrative Region and SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Saranggani, and General Santos) in Central Mindanao market their produce while helping protect the environment.

The fund will support 86 agrarian reform communities in those areas through the implementation of the Value Chain Innovation for Sustainable Transformation in Agrarian Reform Communities (VISTA). The majority of beneficiaries — 52 agrarian reform communities — are located in the Cordillera Region.

The VISTA project will establish sustainable farming practices, build post-harvest facilities and farm-to-market roads, and develop entrepreneurial skills for farmers in the two regions.

DoF Secretary Ralph Recto and UN-IFAD Country Director Umit Mansiz signed the project agreement in a ceremony held on 6 September.

New breed of entrepreneurs

“We will cultivate a new breed of entrepreneurs who will also drive innovation in coffee and cacao production, processing and marketing in the Philippines. All these while maintaining the cultural integrity of the communities and preserving the natural ecosystem in the area,” DoF Secretary Ralph Recto said.

Of the project’s total cost of P6.23 billion, P1.54 billion will be shouldered by the government. VISTA has three parts: ecosystem planning, protection and enhancement; sustainable value chain development; and project management.

“Over the next six years, VISTA will enhance rural resilience against environmental and economic challenges for approximately 350,000 people in the two regions,” IFAD vice president Gerardine Mukeshimana said.

Exiting from poverty

Ultimately, Recto said VISTA is expected to enable eight million Filipinos to exit from poverty and toward the Marcos administration’s goal of an upper middle-income Philippines.

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 allows an individual landless farmer to own and cultivate up to three hectares of family-size land of the original landowner.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urges farmers to form cooperatives so they can scale up production on bigger farmlands and receive multiple government aid.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry grew slower by 2.3 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.