Good News: The Hands that Feed You are Getting Aid, Too

Over 800  farmers in Davao de Oro have received food packs from the Department of Agrarian Reform, according to a report from the DAR's website.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Ellordo Gualberto says this  is in line with the project called The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move for the Deliverance of ARBs From the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Each pack contains four kilos of rice, four packs of instant noodles, three cans of sardines, 10 washable face masks, and 25 tablets of Vitamin C.

The program has been rolled out in 79  provinces nationwide to provide aid and essential support services to  agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The  DAR has allotted P300 million budget for the project that  will help over 90,000 farmers.  Benificiary organizations will also be provided with seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm tools for them to resume planting various crops  to help give them daily food for their tables and earnings for their families.

"This is just the first batch which covered the municipalities of New Bataan, Compostela, Montevista, and Monkayo. Distribution in other municipalities will continue in the following weeks until all 1,438 ARBs of the province are all accounted for,” Gualberto says in the report.

"This is such a big help," says Lilia Dicnan, a farmer from Montevista. "The government is really working hard to help us in this crisis."

The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move for the Deliverance of ARBs From the COVID-19 Pandemic was implemented in response to RA 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.