Benguet farmers get greenhouses to boost organic veggie production

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) turned o ver two vegetable greenhouses worth P1.5 million to a g roup of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in Benguet.

T he project will benefit 372 members of the ARB of Bokod Sulfur Sprint and Multipurpose Cooperative (BSSMC) based in Sitio Palansa, Barangay Bila, Bokod, B enguet who produce assorted organic highland vegetables.

T he twin vegetable greenhouse structures were provided through DAR’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support ProjectSustainable Resilient Agrarian

TRANSFORMING global food systems would require $400 billion a year until 2030, but this amount is far less than the cost of inaction estimated at $12 trillion a year in environmental, social and economic damage to communities, families, livelihoods and lives.

Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), made the statement during a high-level panel at the United Nations Food Systems Summit + 2 Stocktaking Moment last July 24.

“The cost of inaction is much higher than the cost of action.

If we really want to take people out of hunger, out of poverty, we need investments, not only

Reform Communities (CRFPSPSuRe ARCs).

Lailani A. Cortez, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II, said the BSSMC is the second cooperative to receive four (4) hundred square-meter twin butterflyt ype greenhouses.

In May, the DAR also turned over a similar greenhouse structure to the Taloy Farmers’ MultiP urpose Cooperative (TAFARMCO) based in Taloy Sur, Tuba, B enguet.

A training fund of P70,000, training kits, and assorted farm input supports worth P125,000 were also provided by the DAR to the cooperative.

As part of the package, the beneficiaries receive training on

[humanitarian] assistance. And those investments need to be very much focused on pro-poor rural policies,” said Lario.

“Starving food systems on investment means, quite literally, starving people.”

According to the latest figures that the UN released on July 12, 122 million more people are suffering chronic malnourishment since 2019. Currently, over 3 billion people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet.

Food systems are responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, up to 80 percent of biodiversity loss and up to 70 percent of fresh-water consumption.

“We need to massively scale-up