Duterte Gov’t To Distribute 200,000 Hectares Of Farmland To Farmers This Year

The government of President Rodrigo Duterte is planning to distribute 200,000 hectares of farmland to farmer-beneficiaries this year as part of the socioeconomic reform agenda of the peace talks with communist rebels, a member of the government reciprocal working committee (RWC) said Monday, May 22.

At a media forum on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER), RWC on Socio Economic Reforms Chairman Roberto Ador said they are also looking into distributing 1 million hectares of farmland to beneficiaries, although he admitted that this “is difficult to achieve.”

“At the maximum of 200,000 (hectares), baka ‘yun ‘yung kayanin nila,” Ador said, noting the “limited capacity” of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

“Yung one million is difficult to achieve. The management capacity of government to implement and to distribute one million hectares, that’s a big issue because of the limited capacity of DAR and its various offices in the provinces,” he added.

Ador, nonetheless, said the government hopes to distribute a total of one million hectares under the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

This is aside from the two million hectares of uninstalled land.

“Yung aim dun is to distribute at least one million hectares and then install yung another two million hectares, yung mga dati na may titulo na pero di naman naka-install dun sa lupa. So we have around two million beneficiaries,” he said.

Peace panels of the government and the National Democratic are expected to discuss CASER, which includes land reform and rural development, when the fifth round of peace talks start in The Netherlands on May 27.

Source: CNPH