BMRRRP BENEFICIARIES DEMONSTRATE COMMITMENT THROUGH MOA SIGNING WITH MAFAR

Through mass signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with MAFAR in Marawi City on January 9, 2020, the beneficiaries of the Bangon Marawi Recovery, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation Program (BMRRRP) manifested their commitment to properly utilize and sustain the agricultural assistance they received from the program.

Minister Mohammad S. Yacob signed in behalf of MAFAR, and as program recipients, the farmer-leaders or representatives of the identified farmers’ associations and cooperatives in Piagapo and Butig in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City signed the MOA that stipulate their ownership and responsibilities.
In his speech, Minister Yacob reminded the beneficiaries that with the MOA, they have officially become the valid owners of the farm machineries and equipment turned over to them. Along with it are the commitment and obligations to maximize and maintain the operation and productivity of the interventions they received according to the MAFAR chief.

Under the program, the agricultural interventions distributed were 30 units of 35HP mini 4WD tractor, 9 units hand tractor/cultivator, 5 units cassava chipper, 5 units cassava granulator with shredder, 3 units cassava digger, 5 units cassava grater with presser, 811 heads of goat, 2,122 sets of gardening tools (bolo, sprinklers, pick mattock, knapsack sprayer, shovel), and 1,933 packages of biologics (bactericide, zinc sulfate, rodenticide, B-complex, oxytetracycline, dewormer).

More assistance shall be delivered and turned over to the farmer-beneficiaries who were appropriately identified and approved right after the Marawi Siege that occurred for five months on May 23-October 23, 2017.

Ammal D. Solaiman, MAFAR Assistant to the Minister for Policy, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation and BMRRRP Focal Person, elucidated the specific obligations of the farmer-beneficiaries that included not to sell and mortgage what they received, properly use and sustain them, shoulder their repair when needed, and give equal opportunity for usage to all the members.

Engr. Haris Paporo, DA-RFO 10 Focal Person for Task Force Bangon Marawi, assisted in the re-orientation on the contents of the signed MOA.
Representatives and focal persons from the provincial and city offices of MAFAR and the other farmer-beneficiaries also actively took part in the successful conduct of the activity.

The program is under the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (BMCRRP) that was crafted after the conduct of Post Conflict Needs Assessment by the concerned National Government Agencies (NGAs) like the Department of Agriculture. Aside from the provision of livelihood production support, the program also has the components on financing and training for the affected population.