Sultan Kudarat farmers get processing facility from DAR
DAR’s turnover of the newly renovated processing building to the members of the United Highlander Farmers Producers Cooperative (UHFPC) in Sultan Kudarat. (Photo courtesy of DAR)
MANILA, Philippines — Farmers in Sultan Kudarat received a processing building from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to ramp up their agricultural production and earnings.
In a statement on Friday, DAR said that the United Highlander Farmers Producers Cooperative (UHFPC) in Barangay Nati, Senator Ninoy Aquino, got equipment and packaging materials from the agency.
The processing facility, amounting to P350,000, seeks to boost the “interventions for support services and diversified income sources to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).”
The project was carried out as part of the agency’s Village Level Farm-focused Enterprise Development (VLFED) project, according to Mary Jane Aguilar, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II.
“The VLFED enables the ARBs to produce market-competitive products through value addition by providing them with appropriate facilities and equipment for their products to become more competitive, increase their profits and strengthen their organization,” Aguilar said.
Although coffee is said to be the UHFPC’s primary crop, the DAR also recognized tablea’s potential to compete in the market. —Kristelle Anne Razon, Inquirer.net trainee
