The Department of Agrarian Reform is conducting an “honest-to-goodness” tracing of farmer-beneficiaries in Nueva Vizcaya to determine the state of the country’s land reform program from 48 years ago.
Secretary Brother John Castriciones says the move, dubbed “Kumustasaka,” is meant to validate the existing owners, the crops planted, and the kinds of support services needed to enhance farm productivity.
He says the Kumustasaka, which is in pilot-testing stage, seeks to pinpoint the real farmer-beneficiaries to whom the DAR intends to extend much-needed assistance.
“The idea here is to find out if the farm lots that had been distributed to them are still being tilled by them. We also wanted to know their current economic status and what they need to increase their farm produce and increase their income,” he said.
The farm visit was called “ARBisitahan.”
Undersecretary for Support Services Emily Padilla said they were also meant to pinpoint the actual farmer-beneficiaries.
She says she has observed in past distribution by the DAR of farm inputs to farmer-beneficiaries that “some of them are not actually farmer-beneficiaries.”
“We want to make sure that all the assistance that the DAR extends is given to the rightful farmer-beneficiaries,” she said.
Undersecretary for Planning, Policy and Research Virginia Orogo said the activities would be of great help for the DAR to figure out how far the government’s land reform program had gone after 48 years of implementation.