Land grants for agriculture graduates ready by January

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) this week said it had identified about 230,000 idle government-owned lands across the country which could be distributed to fresh graduates of agricultural courses as early as January so they could make the land productive as soon as possible.

DAR director Cleon Lester Chavez said the first batch of applicants would be awarded a hectare each from the 15-ha land in Lal-lo town in Cagayan province.

The plots, which are located within the Cagayan State University, are part of the identified 623 ha of land in the area that spans the towns of Lal-lo and Piat.

“The graduates can collectively develop the land, which can be a laboratory for what they have learned [in school],” Chavez told the Inquirer.

He said the agency was looking at the distribution to begin by the second week of January.

DAR said Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones had already reached out to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to hold a meeting with different heads of state universities and colleges, as part of the program’s implementation.

Castriciones said CHEd records showed that in the academic year 2017 to 2018, more than 26,800 obtained degrees in agriculture and related fields in the country. However, most of these graduates seek jobs outside the agricultural field, due to low earnings and scarce opportunities.

Because of the slow influx of younger farmers, the majority of Filipino farmers are now in their sunset years, with their age averaging 57 years.

Graduates of four-year bachelor’s degrees in agriculture, forestry or related fields are eligible to apply to DAR’s program. They must be landless, residents of the municipality where the land is located and have no pending application as an agrarian reform beneficiary.

Their applications must be submitted to their respective municipal or provincial agrarian reform officers.