Rice crisis due to CARP failure, says lawyer
The current rice crisis, which government attributes to a global phenomenon, may be, in fact, due to the poor implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), said Ilonggo lawyer Gil Alba.
Alba is submitting a paper opposing CARP extension at a Senate Committee on Agriculture hearing set to be held in Roxas City on Friday, May 2, 2008 . He described as "short-sighted and unfaithful to the constitution," the implementation of CARP as a mere land redistribution program with government being reduced to acting as realtor.
Alba, who has an extensive agrarian law practice in Western Visayas , issued the statement in the wake of proposals to extend the implementation of CARP. Alba, co-author of the book "Landowners rights under the agrarian reform program" which was published in 2003 & 2004, said CARP's focus on land redistribution without the accompanying support services has resulted in poor agricultural output and threatens the country's long-term food security.
Alba cited that CARP did not improve agricultural productivity shown by a DAR-GTZ report noting that Philippine agriculture is now in "a state of distress."
He added, the DAR-GTZ report also concludes that despite 34 years of agrarian reform (PD 27 and CARL), it has "failed to significantly reduce rural poverty levels." About 6.5-million hectares of arable land have been distributed to more than 4-million farmer-beneficiaries. DAR-GTZ findings indicate that 26% of CARP beneficiaries have sold or mortgaged their lands; the figure is higher in the rice-growing areas of Nueva Ecija (41%) and Iloilo (35%).
With average farm size of 1.4-hectares, agrarian reform beneficiaries continue to rely on subsistence farming methods as they do not have the economies of scale to modernize and mechanize their operations. The absence of continuing support services such as carabao, implements, equipment, cheap credit, irrigation, fertilizers and other farm inputs, etc. also contributes to poor agricultural productivity.
While the immediate extension of CARP is being pushed by DAR and other interest groups, certain sectors are calling for a comprehensive review of the program. Agrarian reform beneficiaries, who have been given lands without the corresponding support services, are lobbying for inclusion of more support services in the new law. There is also a call to consider other lawful arrangements such as profit-sharing or production sharing, which will preserve the viability of farm operations while uplifting the lives of farmers and farm-workers.