By Mary May A. Abellon
DIPOLOG
CITY - Three selected municipalities in the province of Zamboanga
del Norte have benefited from the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and
Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) program of the Department of Agrarian
Reform.
Among
the beneficiaries of the first batch were the Guinles Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative
(GUIFAMUCO) in the municipality of Polanco, San Miguel Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries
Multi-purpose Cooperative (SMARBEMCO) in Mutia, and the Joaquin Macias Agrarian
Reform Beneficiaries Multi-purpose Cooperative (JMARBEMCO) in Sindangan town.
ARCCESS
has two major interventions: the delivery of Business Development Services
(BDS) to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations
(ARBOs) through the deployment of Community-Based Enterprise Organizers (CBEOs),
and the provision of farm equipment and machineries of Common Service
facilities (CSFs) to ARBOs.
In
CBEOs, the government will hire a professional to assist the business and
management of cooperatives and an agricultural extension technician to assist
farmers in farm production technology.
Reynaldo
Manigos, ARCCESS point person in Zamboanga del Norte, said during an interview
that this program was conceptualized in 2011 but it was only this year that the
equipment and machineries were delivered.
“The
delivery of the needed equipment and machineries to the first batch of ARBOs
was made only this year,” said Manigos.
The
CSFs include threshers, dryers, shellers, automatic planters, sprayers, coffee
roasters, cassava granulators, tractors and hauling trucks.
These
CSFs will be granted based on the readiness of ARBOs to manage and optimize the
use of the equipment, as well as the necessity of the equipment to the operation
of each ARBO.