28 March 2014 - Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) visited the headquarters of two major United Nations (UN) agencies based in Rome: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) from March 06 to 12.
In the courtesy call on the FAO Director-General Graziano da Silva, Secretary delos Reyes thanked FAO for its immediate and sustained assistance to the affected farmers of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and discussed initiatives to further strengthen FAO-Philippines’ family farming, agrarian reform, and disaster resiliency initiatives.
The Secretary also met with FAO officials from the Offices of the Director General (ODG), Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development (OPC), Land and Water Division, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, and representatives from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), and briefed them on the progress made and the remaining challenges of agrarian reform in the Philippines. FAO was invited to share its experience on agrarian reform of other countries and best practices that the Philippines could learn from in the context of the Voluntary Guidelines (VG) on Land Tenure. The Secretary also highlighted a set of second generation agrarian reform issues and underscored the need to fairly and equitably compensate all stakeholders, particularly the landless farmer. A policy study to be conducted by FAO on the matter, in the context of the VG on Land Tenure, was assured. Other topics discussed include South-South cooperation in agricultural research, technology and extension, the farmer field schools, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and access to financing of smallholder farmers for enterprise development.
At the WFP, the Secretary had a full two-day agenda, with consecutive meetings with heads of WFP’s various policy, program, innovation and technical departments and offices. Specific points of interest for PH were identified, namely (i) disaster preparedness, with focus on technology such as the use of biometric system, nutrition content and other modalities in the agriculture sector; (ii) stronger partnership and cooperation in regional fora such as ASEAN; (iii) building standard procedure to address disaster and post-disaster periods, involving the National Convergence Initiative; (iv) promotion of “nutrition” lens through strengthened partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development; (v) the issue of credit; and (vi) procurement systems.
Director Diaz presented a Landbank program dubbed “Bangon Mini Farms” or “Million Farmers Rising,” to help in the recovery of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) victims.
Noteworthy during the visit was the recognition given by both FAO and WFP that the Philippines is a “model” for engagement with international humanitarian organizations, as the government and concerned organizations undertake a “real partnership” in addressing issues on the ground. END