Philippines : Agrarian Reform Communities Project II

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural production - Irrigation - Rural flood protection - Rural market infrastructure - Rural water policy, institutional and capacity development - Rural water supply services

The Project will support the Government's Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010. It will pursue a holistic approach to poverty reduction by promoting an agribusiness approach to rural development. It will assist the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by addressing the most pressing requirements for support in 152 agrarian reform communities (ARCs) and ARC Clusters in 19 provinces in southern Philippines.

The long-term impact of the Project is to enable ARB households and other sections of the rural poor in approximately 152 selected ARCs and ARC Clusters (ARC Clusters will include target ARCs and ARBs and other farmers in adjacent areas) in 19 provinces (the provinces to be covered include Romblon, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Shariff Kabunsuan, Maguindanao, Lanao Del Sur, Tawi Tawi, Basilan, and Sulu) to reduce their poverty, and have sustained improvements in their incomes and quality of life.

In order to achieve these impacts, the Project is expected to bring about long lasting improvements in the capabilities and well being of poor and marginalized groups in the target communities. In order to achieve the above outcomes of poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods, the Project will support the following outputs: (i) strong participation of local communities in the development process by the (a) enhancement of social capital among target communities through the use of a CDD approach, (b) detailed participatory ARC planning based on participation by the rural poor, as well as (c) improved capacity of ARC organizations and LGUs, for better governance and convergence in the provision of support services to target communities; (ii) agri enterprise development (AED)including (a) transfer of technology, (b) greater entrepreneurship among ARC organizations, (c) linkages between the private sector and corporate entities and ARC organizations, for increased investments into rural areas for growth, (d) wider prevalence of community based savings and lending groups for setting up sustainable micro-finance services among communities, (e) Land Tenure Improvement to improve security of land titles, enable investments into productivity enhancements, (iii) improved access to rural infrastructure, designed to provide a boost to improved production and productivity, and crop intensification; and (iv) improved project management.

Most of the rural poor in the Philippines are landless and land-poor households inhabiting rural areas in southern Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas. Their lack of equitable access to the means of production, including land, capital, irrigation, technology, information, employment opportunities, and markets, leads to deep poverty and low living standards. The Government's response to the widespread rural distress and unrest in the 1980s has been the CARP. CARP aims to acquire and redistribute all public and disposable alienable land suited to agriculture, as well as private agricultural lands above certain limits, irrespective of crops grown, to eligible ARBs. CARP includes support services to be provided to ARBs with a view to reducing their poverty and improving the sustainability of their landholdings. ADB has supported the implementation of CARP through its Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP).

Under the ARCP, ADB assisted the development coverage of 165 ARCs in 35 provinces. The ARCP has been successful in achieving most of its targets with high rates of utilization of project financing. Targets for most of the components have been exceeded, especially for rural infrastructure, which has had far-reaching effects on the access of target ARCs to processing facilities and bigger markets. Technology transfer for improving productivity and rural enterprise development has shown results in terms of sustainable increases in incomes for ARBs and other farmers. The ARCP has demonstrated the need for ensuring regular budgetary releases for project implementation. It has also brought home to both ADB and the Government the need for mainstreaming project management and for ensuring high standards of governance and fiduciary responsibility all around.

Building on lessons learned from the ARCP, as well as the lessons emerging from the impact assessments done for CARP (in 2003 and 2007) and other externally assisted projects, and in support of the priorities of the Government, the ARCP II will cover about 152 ARCs and 11 ARC clusters (target ARCs and ARBs and other farmers in adjacent areas) in 19 provinces. It will provide targeted support in precisely those areas where it is necessary to bring about fundamental change to enable the transformation of CARP lands into agribusiness lands. It will thus contribute to pro-poor economic growth and lead to equitable sharing of the benefits of growth across regions and rural poor communities

Under the productivity improvement subcomponent, the executing agency had the following agri-enterprise development (AED) activities: (i) advisory services in the formulation and design of identified AED that were incorporated in the ARC cluster development plans; (ii) follow through of the systems for rice intensification program in some ARCs; and (iii) engagement of the high value vegetable production firm to carry out its operations for these crops.

Market linkages were established with private sector groups for AED for value-added activities in ginger, seaweed, organic rice, dried tomato, dried fish, cacao, coffee, coconut, and rubber production towards the development of existing products with high market potentials. Training and dialogues with community-based organizations engaged in value-adding enterprises and irrigators association officers assisted by the Project to ensure sustainability of project interventions.

Procurement of survey firms for land tenure improvement is still ongoing for the remaining target of the Project of 17,534.76 ha.

Output 1: Community Driven Development (CDD)

Output 2: Agriculture and Enterprise Development

Output 3: Rural Infrastructure Development

Output 4: Project Implementation and Management

The Project has approved 598 subprojects, of which 121 were delisted/withdrawn. Total number of subprojects is 477, of which 266 are rural access infrastructure with a total length of 936.37 km.

119 of access infrastructure SPs were constructed covering an estimated 370.89 km of farm-to-market roads.

6 irrigation SPs with a total service area of 2.080 has. were successfully rehabilitated and constructed; 8 SPs have ongoing construction with a total service area of 2,942.75 has.

Ongoing civil works construction activities:

147 access infrastructure, with a total length of 565.47 km

6 irrigation subprojects with a total service area of 2.080 has. and 8 units of level II potable water system (PWS).

Ongoing activities:

construction of 8 small-scale irrigation with a total service area of 2,942.75 has.; and 8 units of level II PWS

35 post-harvest facilities covering 45 units and 173 social infrastructure subprojects, consisting of 135 classrooms and 106 units of other social infrastructure such as multi-purpose centers/buildings, and health centers.

22 barangay health station SPs covering 22 units were successfully completed ; 5 SPs covering 5 units are being constructed.

21 day care centers SPs covering 21 units were successfully completed; 1 SP covering 1 unit is being constructed

20 multipurpose building SPs covering 20 units successfully completed construction; 17 SPs covering 17 units have ongoing construction.

Being assessed.

437 trainings and development plans were implemented.

152 ARC and 11 ARC clusters have detailed ARC development plans and were mainstreamed into the LGUs' annual investment plan. The 11 ARC cluster development plans are now integrated with the provincial development framework plans and provincial investment plans.

214 agrarian reform clusters (ARCs) were mobilized.

152 ARC working groups and rural infrastructure teams were formed and organized

152 ARC and 11 ARC clusters have detailed ARC development plans and were mainstreamed into the LGUs' annual investment plan.

458 self-help groups (SHGs) and people's organizations (POs) were formed; 152 agrarian reform cluster working groups (ARCWGs) and rural infrastructure teams formed and organized.

152 ARCDPs mainstreamed in AIP and Medium-term Development Plans for LGUs

437 training and development plans implemented; 148 functional organizations engaged in sustainable agri-enterprise

445 trainings conducted for LGUs and DAR; 152 functional community-based M&E installed

96 techno farms established for various crops; 155 technical training on natural farming systems conducted

96 techno farms established for various crops; 33 technical training on agro-forestry conducted; 19 technical training on plantation development conducted

96 techno farms established for various crops.

On-going value chain development of 18 enterprises in 18 priority ARCs located in 17 provinces

4,293.84 has. have been distributed with individual titles benefiting 2,733 ARBs

13,664.78 has. with approved survey plans

The Agri-enterprise Credit and Agri-finance Service (Agri-CASH) accomplished a total of 8,717 ARB and non-ARB borrowers to enable access to credit. Another window for credit initiated by DAR was the Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP), wherein about P8.9 million was accessed by the ARBOs in the ARCP II areas.

For the rural finance subcomponent, 25,664 beneficiaries have availed of financial assistance extended by the project through the AGRICASH program of DAR.

96 techno farms established for various crops;

155 technical training on natural farming systems were conducted

33 technical training on agro-forestry were conducted

77 technical training on high value crops were conducted

19 technical training on plantation development were conducted

36 technical training on fishery and livestock were conducted.

4,293.84 has. have been distributed with individual titles benefiting 2,733 ARBs

13,664.78 has. with approved survey plans

31,869.72 has. completed procurement.

14 microfinance institutions assisted for micro-agri loan products in the ARCs.

26 project offices were established (1 national, 6 regional, 19 provincial)

152 local project offices were established

40 national subproject approval committee meetings were conducted.

The Special Management Team for ARMM contract was signed on 29 June 2011 and its assignment ended on 3 July 2014. Land tenure improvement survey services were engaged.

Engaged a quality assurance firm.

Procured 26 vehicles (vans, pick-ups), 137 motorcycles; procured 100 units of computers.

LGU representatives in all 152 ARCs underwent training on area of development planning, including preparation of LGU investment plan in support of ARC development. Enhanced Participatory Area Planning (E-PAP) teams were formed and operational in about 137 ARCs covering all project provinces except Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The Performance Based Grant System (PBGS) for ARCP 2 was approved by the PBGS Technical Committee.

Formed 86 agriculture and enterprise development (AED) committees at municipal level in eleven (11) provinces. These committees were the frontlines for the ARCP 2 AED activities at the municipal and ARC levels. These were further sub-divided into smaller sub-committees to tackle specific factors that apply at the municipal and ARC level e.g. crops, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, marketing and other non-farm activities.