To fast-track the identification of more than 1,000 farmer-beneficiaries for the Convergence for Livelihood Assistance for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Project (CLAAP) in Marinduque, a two-day field validation and monitoring was recently conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) Central Project Management Unit (CPMU).
“Having the most number of target beneficiaries (of more than 50 percent regionwide), the province of Marinduque was prioritized for actual site visit and verification”, said Darwin M. Espinosa, CPMU Project Coordinator.
The preparation stage of the CLAAP in the province started in December of last year. As of February 2019, more than 800 farmers have been subjected to a means test, a tool utilized by the project to determine the actual socio-economic status of potential beneficiaries.
“Bulk of the activities in the first quarter were focused in completing the lists of project beneficiaries”, CARPO Virgilio L. Laggui said.
With the presence of the CPMU, the province committed to quickly move on to the next critical project activities such as clustering and project proposal preparation.
Imelda Montemar, Secretary of BFWA, suggesting feasible livelihood projects in the area.
Two clusters were formed from the members of Malbog MultiPurpose Farmers Cooperative (MMPFC) in Buenavista and Binunga Farm Workers Association (BFWA) in Boac during the field validation through the focus group discussion.
Possible projects such as arrowroot production, rice and feeds trading were identified to be subject for the majority approval of the cluster members.
“Napakaganda ng proyektong handog sa amin ng DAR. Kami ay mapalad lalo’t higit ang mga benepisyaryo ng CLAAP sapagkat makakatulong ito sa aming mga kabarangay na magkaroon sila ng dagdag na kita at kaalaman sa pagnenegosyo,” said Imelda Montemar, Secretary of BFWA.
The CPMU is the project management unit at the central level which serves as the Technical Secretariat and responsible for providing technical and administrative assistance to the Steering Committee and CLAAP coordination committees. – Marinduquenews.com
This story was first published by Department of Agrarian Reform.
