Camarines Norte ARBOs get motorized haulers from DAR

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced on Wednesday the distribution of motorized hauling vehicles to three agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) based in Daet, Camarines Norte.

T he delivery service vehicles worth P170,000 each will be used to transport the groups’ agri-products to private buyers and consumers.

T hrough the service vehicles, the three cooperatives can expand their operations and increase the income of the farmer-members as well as the organization, Meralyn Bongais, DAR Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer said in a statement.

DAR facilitated the signing of the Trust Agreement and the certificate of turnover for the official receipt of equipment to the San Jose Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association, the San Pascual Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (SPARBO), and the Brgy. Maisog Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (BMARBO).

T he service vehicles were provided under the Sustainable Livelihood Support for Disaster Affected Areas and the Expanded Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty programs.

This hauler will help us in transporting our products to the market, where we can sell them at a reasonable price. That is one of the many things we are grate - ful for. This would be a big help for agrarian reform beneficiaries like us,” said Marilyn Francisco, BMARBO officer.

BMARBO, a coconut producing organization, is also one of the organizations provided with a project under the Sustainable Livelihood Support for Disaster-Affected Areas for year 2023.

Francisco added they will also receive a startup kit that would allow them to establish a broiler production project providing additional income for their families.

A licia Almacin, DAR chief for support services, said SPARBO’s rice trading business continues to generate significant gains, while SARA is fully involved in its profitable egg production venture.

TRANSFORMING agrifood systems is essential to adapt to human-caused climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said following the release of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

T he Synthesis Report, the last of the Sixth Assessment report cycle, done in a collaborative effort between governments and scientists from all over the world, confirmed that human activities, mainly through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming. These include unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, as well as consumption and production patterns.

T he report underlined that 22 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions right now come from agriculture, forestry, and land use.

T he synthesis also painted a clear way ahead, underscoring that the solution lies in climateresilient development and holistic measures to adapt to climate change that also reduce or avoid greenhouse emissions. Agriculture and food security are already threatened by climate change, in particular in Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Land-Locked Countries, affecting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, forest-dependent people, fishers, Indigenous Peoples and women,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo.

We need to act now at scale. Building sustainable and resilient agrifood systems is fundamental to tackling the climate crisis, food insecurity and biodiversity loss.”

Climate action through agri INDEED, the IPCC scientists highlighted with high confidence that many agriculture, forestry and land use options provide adaptation and mitigation benefits that could be upscaled in the near term across most regions.

For example, they said conservation, improved management, and restoration of forests and other ecosystems offer the largest opportunity to counteract the economic damages caused by climate-related disasters.

Examples of effective adaptation options include cultivar improvements, on-farm, water management and storage, soil moisture conservation, irrigation, agroforestry, community-based adaptation, farm and landscape level diversification in agriculture and sustainable land management.

T he IPCC also noted the importance of integrated approaches to meet multiple objectives, including food security, and underscores that shifting to healthy diets and reducing food waste, along with sustainable agriculture, can reduce impacts on ecosystems and free up land for reforestation and biodiversity restoration.

T he synthesis also pointed out that while climate change policies and laws have improved, policy cover- age remains limited in some sectors such as agriculture, and the barriers preventing the implementation of mitigation measures in agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors are financial, institutional and governance-related.

The report shows how agriculture can be central to climate action. It highlights that Agriculture is already impacted by climate change, showing that its adaptation is urgent to ensure food security and nutrition leaving no one behind,” Semedo said.

“Agriculture including crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, offers solutions that contribute to both adaptation and mitigation.”

T he synthesis further highlighted how central water is to all sectors for their adaptation. In this context, FAO supports integrated water resources management to face waterrelated challenges in the context of climate change.

FAO strategy

FAO said it is already working towards the report’s recommendations, including fostering climate resilience and adaptation in the agrifood sector.

T he FAO Strategy on Climate Change looks beyond food production by considering crops and livestock, forests, fisheries and aquaculture and related value chains, livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystems in a holistic manner, as well as embracing the indispensable role of women, youth and Indigenous Peoples, as essential agents of change.