Preserving agrarian reform gains through support services

How can farmers be empowered to keep the land they won through decades of struggle under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)? This question has long haunted agrarian communities like Hacienda Matias in San Francisco, Quezon.

Hacienda Matias made headlines in 2015 for the historic dismantling of its steel gate. The landlord had installed the barrier in retaliation against tenants who dared to apply for land redistribution. It took 200 uniformed government personnel in July 2015 for the Department of Agrarian Reform to enforce CARP and install the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). The gate of the hacienda was dismantled along with the batas hacienda that reigned for decades.

Yet for the ARBs, winning the land was only the beginning. Across the country, financial precarity often forces farmers to sell or lease their certificate of land ownership awards. In Hacienda Matias, farmers’ household sustenance depends on volatile global copra prices. This has made their hard-won land vulnerable to speculation.

Fortunately, the ARBs of Hacienda Matias have the sea as an alternative source of livelihood. During fishing season, women lead the processing of tapulok and dilis into tuyo and bagoong. This fish-curing industry transforms the community’s landscape during peak fishing season from January to March. Rows of bamboo platforms loaded with sun-drying fish blanket the shoreline, even spilling across the road and into the coconut groves.

Despite being nestled by the sea and having a thriving fish-curing industry, Hacienda Matias does not produce its own salt. Local processors source salt from markets in Lucena or rely on traders who transport it from Pangasinan, 530 kilometers away. During peak season, Lucena’s salt supplies can run out.

On Aug. 8, following consultations between Katarungan and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, a community salt production facility was established in Sitio Nilantangan. Capable of producing 280 kilograms of salt daily, the community hopes this facility will help lower production costs and give them greater control over their production. By reducing the distance required to source salt, this community salt production facility will also cut fuel use and transport emissions, making the fish-curing industry more sustainable.

The story of Hacienda Matias shows how CARP’s vision of social justice and rural development cannot be fulfilled through land redistribution alone. Land titles must be paired with support services that make rural livelihoods economically viable. While CARP mandates support services for ARBs, it was never prioritized to the same degree as land redistribution. Thus, productivity in many areas has stagnated, leading to rapid reversals of agrarian reform gains.

Farmers should be seen not merely as agricultural producers concerned with land tenure, but as members of a broader socioecological territory engaged in diverse forms of livelihood.

Support services must be geared toward the holistic development of agrarian communities, empowering them to sustainably harness their resources. Only then can agrarian reform fully realize its vision of social justice and rural development.

SHEILA MAE PAGURAYAN,
sheilapagurayan01@gmail.com