Samar farmers visit Leyte farm

By SARAH JANE ALVAREZ, DAR-Samar
August 27, 2023

SAN JORGE, Samar – Twenty-four farmer-members of an agrarian reform beneficiaries organization (ARBO) from this town visited the Villaconzoilo Farm in Jaro, Leyte on August 18, 2023 for their benchmarking activity.

The educational tour of Buenavista Integrated Farmers Association (BIFA) is part of the learning sessions under Farm Business School (FBS) being conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to teach the participants the process of benchmarking.

According to Din Jeruel Pagliawan, DAR Samar Provincial Office’s FBS alternate point person and one of the resource speakers, “The conduct of benchmarking is crucial as it enables the participants to compare and observe the performance of a successful farm and learn how to apply the different practices to their own farms.” “We chose Villaconzoilo Farm for this activity because it offered various commodities wherein our agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) can acquire knowledge and techniques on production not limited to vegetables alone,” said Pagliawan.

The participants were toured around the farm exposing them to organic fertilizer production, beekeeping, herbs, horticulture, greenhouse nursery, and poultry raising.

One of the participants, Jolito Verzoza, 63, said they learned a lot from that benchmarking activity. He stressed that they learned more about farming techniques including livestock raising. “We will share these learnings with the other members of our organization during our weekly and monthly meetings,” Verzoza added.

Buenavista Integrated Farmers Association (BIFA), based in Barangay Buenavista-I is some six kilometers away from the town proper, has 35 members, most of them are ARBs, according to Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO), Ricardo Flor.

Farm Business School (FBS) is one of the training programs extended by the DAR to ARBOs to educate them of timely and appropriate marketing strategies for them to become entrepreneurs.

Buenavista Integrated Farmers Association (BIFA) started their FBS in March this year and will have their graduation at the end of this month.