"The Japanese government is firmly committed to helping the Philippine agrarian reform communities attain growth and progress through various development projects. This is our way of putting into concrete reality our strong support for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in its implementation of the comprehensive agrarian reform program," Eiji Ueno, first secretary of Japan Embassy, said during the turnover ceremony of an irrigation facility in Barangay Angas, Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur.
Ueno represented Japanese Ambassador Kojiro Takano during the inauguration of the Angas communal irrigation facility, which was turned over to the Angas Irrigators’ Association composed of farmer-beneficiaries in Angas-Awao-Sayon ARC in Sta. Josefa.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza welcomed Japan’s expression of support, saying it inspires the agrarian reform stakeholders into working harder to ensure the attainment of CARP objectives — eliminate poverty and promote rural development.
"Japan has been a long-time supporter of CARP, and it makes us happy to hear that its commitment to help in the development of our ARCs has not wavered," Braganza said.
DAR Assistant Secretary Jose Mari Ponce, of the Foreign-Assisted Projects Office, said Japan has been supporting a major project of DAR, the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project-Phase II (ARISP-II), through Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Ponce said that ARISP-II, which started in March 2002, is a five-year project with a total cost of P6.74 billion, composed of a P5.66-billion loan from JBIC and a P1.08-billion counterpart fund from the national government.
"Our target beneficiaries under ARISP-II are at least 99,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in 150 ARCs nationwide," said Ponce, who is also the concurrent national project manager of ARISP-II.
He said that among the major components of ARISP-II are irrigation and drainage facilities, post-harvest facilities, farm-to-market roads, potable water supply, and institutional development, including agricultural extension and livelihood.
The Angas communal irrigation facility, which was rehabilitated under ARISP-II at a cost of P1.08 million, is only one of several projects being implemented by DAR in Sta. Josefa in order to improve and modernize rice farming, the major crop in the area.
Aside from the Angas irrigation, ARISP-II is implementing various other projects in two ARCs of Sta. Josefa – the Angas-Awao-Sayon ARC and the Tapsi ARC.
Projects ongoing or scheduled for implementation in Angas-Awao-Sayon ARC are: irrigation projects in three more barangay worth almost P47 million, road concreting in Awao worth P10.88 million, construction of Conception-Sayon-Tagmanoro farm-to-market road worth P30.75 million, post-harvest facilities worth P1.43 million, water supply for two barangays worth over P10.12 million, and cooperative development worth over P1.14 million.
On the other hand, projects for implementation in Tapsi ARC include three farm-to-market roads worth P50 million, water supply system in one barangay worth P3 million, and cooperative development worth P1.5 million.
Overall, the total cost of projects intended for the two ARCs is almost P157 million.