Despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, 104 farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program are able to earn a gross of P22.93 million in just a month of selling their agricultural produce in “critically” affected areas in Eastern Visayas.
Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones described the farmer-beneficiaries delivering goods to COVID-19 “critically affected areas as front liners whose movements should be left unhampered.”
Stephen Leonidas, DAR regional director for Eastern Visayas, said the agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations started selling their harvest in the last week of March, braving the dreaded COVID-19 to ensure the sustainability of food supply.
He said their efforts paid off “handsomely four weeks later, with a total gross sale of P22,928,460.”
The farmers’ organizations were 33 from Leyte; 21 from Eastern Samar; 20 from Samar; 15 from Northern Samar; eight from Southern Leyte and seven from Biliran.
“Allowing individual and organized farmer-beneficiaries to market their harvest during this crisis enables them to fend for themselves, make them less of a burden to the government, continue farming and keep food flowing,” he said.