Government eyes private sector to help CARP beneficiaries

The government is eyeing help of the private sector to uplift the lives of beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Reporting to Malacañang, the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Agrarian Reform (OPAAR) said the government must start building new tools for sustainable development and livelihood in the countryside.

"Eighteen years after its implementation, CARP is nearing its closing stages with about 3.7 million hectares already distributed and roughly only 500,000 hectares of land remain for distribution," read the report titled "Proposed Gradual Paradigm Re-Focus in the Agrarian Reform Program."

"However, CARP beneficiaries still continue to be one of the impoverished sectors of Philippine society. During that period of land distribution, 22 million of the landless retreated and multiplied in the nearly unproductive upland areas," the report said.

The OPAAR proposed a market-driven program geared towards producing high value crops, with premium niche in the global market like rubber and palm oil.

Jatropha could also be planted and be a source of fuel, as well as mangosteen, highland coffee, cashew and achuete in various idle lands, the agency added.

The OPAAR said these products are billion-dollar industries in other countries.

"Although Philippine lands devoted to agricultural crops are steadily increasing, from 7.7 million hectares in 1960 to 13.09 million hectares in 1994, much of these agricultural lands are planted with palay, corn, coconut and sugarcane," the report added. "Only banana and pineapple are market-driven towards export."

The government must also rehabilitate five million hectares of denuded forests and cogon lands with the assistance of the private sector, the OPAAR said.

During the Earth Day celebration Saturday, President Arroyo said the government would need the help of private investors in reforestation and industrial tree plantation.

She said this would be the best way to stop flooding and environmental destruction while providing sources of livelihood for people.

Based on official reports, the Philippines has lost about 15.7 million hectares of tropical forests since the 1900s.

In the 1920s, about 70 percent of the country’s 30 million hectares of land area was covered by forests, and now less than 20 percent or about 5.6 million hectares of forests are left, the reports added.

In a 1998 cost estimate, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said reforestation will cost about P215 billion, which is too huge for the government to shoulder alone.

Under the program, land owners, farmers and investors will shoulder the cost of reforestation, motivated by the prospects of livelihood and economic development. — Aurea Calica