BUTUAN CITY -- The Department Agrarian of Reform (DAR) in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment Region (DOLE) recently awarded a livelihood grant worth P996,888 to the Farmers for Peace and Progress Agriculture Cooperative (FPPAC) of Agusan del Norte.

DAR Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Andre Atega said the livelihood grant will be used as working capital to support the cooperative’s cocoa production.

“The FPPAC is venturing into cocoa production. With the money, they will buy materials and equipment for processing food products such as cocoa powder, cacao nibs, and tableya,” Atega said.

“We are glad that through DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP), we opened a new opportunity to advance the business enterprise of FPPAC, which we know will uplift the lives of its agrarian reform beneficiary members,” Atega added.

Renato Manabat, Chair of FPPAC, expressed gratitude to the DAR-Agusan del Norte for the release of the livelihood assistance to their cooperative.

“I am grateful to all the government agencies that have always assisted our cooperative. To DAR for molding us, and for DOLE for providing us with the fund,” Manabat said.

DOLE Provincial Office Head Keith Duran said that the DILP livelihood assistance is an inter-agency convergence initiative with the Barangay Local Government Unit, in delivering support services to various parts of agrarian reform communities in the province.

Duran said that with the joint effort of DOLE and DAR of Agusan del Norte, the FPPAC will finally purchase the needed equipment and materials to help transform their economic activity that will serve as a stable source of income.

Ellen Torralba, Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer (CARPO) of the Program Beneficiaries Development Division (PBDD) of DAR-Agusan del Norte said that the delivery of livelihood assistance by the DOLE seeks to contribute to poverty reduction through the promotion of community enterprise of the cooperatives.

She said that the project is expected to bring desirable changes in the lives of the farmers and will open new opportunities to forward the cooperative’s livelihood income.

“The DAR also strengthened the group by way of providing a link with an appropriate market for their agri-products,” Torralba said.

Data provided by Ma. Elena Negrido, DOLE Point Person, indicated that a total of 11 cooperatives have already benefited from the program from 2019 up to this year.

Negrido further said that thousands of farmers have already benefited from the P9.3-million worth of livelihood funds released by the DILP in Agusan del Norte since 2019. (DAR)