IMPACT OF DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY – COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO AGRARIAN REFORM COMMUNITIES ASSISTED
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
INTRODUCTION In consonance with the avowed policy of the state to promote social justice and to move the nation toward rural development and industrialization, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (RA 6657) was enacted on 10 June 1988. The law spells out the mechanism for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which aims to redistribute all public and private agricultural lands, including lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture. Under the program, landowners are allowed to retain a maximum of five hectares. The CARP, which is primarily envisioned to accomplish equity objectives through land distribution, also aims to address efficiency issues by increasing farm productivity. Improved farm productivity is expected to be accomplished through the adoption of appropriate farming practices and technology by the new landowners and the provision of the complementary support services. These include, among others, infrastructure support, credit, technical training and appropriate technology. The program is also designed to encourage production in idle and abandoned lands which is expected to increase overall land productivity. In view of its comprehensive scope, the implementation of the CARP involves the Department of Trade and Industry through the establishment of the Small and Medium Industry Technology Transfer Development Program (SMITTDP) in July 1989. SMITTDP is primarily supportive of the government’s focus on countryside development through setting up of rural industries.
More specifically, SMITTDP promotes entrepreneurship and enterprise development among the farmers and affected landowners and provides the services necessary to ensure the success of their projects; such as: 1. To tap the idle manpower of