Posted on 10:04 PM, December 05, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
ILOILO/TACLOBAN -- Agrarian reform also has its downside, particularly on agri-tourism of Guimaras island, according to the province’s tourism official.
Guimaras tourism officer Angeles E. Gabinete said in a recent Visayas agribusiness forum that the comprehensive agrarian reform program (CARP) has divided mango plantations -- a major tourist attraction on the island -- into small lots for agrarian reform beneficiaries.
"Guimaras is a small island and its main product is mangoes, a showcase of the island’s fruit and tourism potentials. Yet, this small endeavor was shaken by the inroads of CARP in productive mango lands," Ms. Gabinete said.
She cited the land of Oro Verde Holdings, once a top mango plantation and mango manufacturing center in the country.
Oro Verde covers more than 237 hectares of mango plantation and became a premier tourist attraction and showcase on the island. Domestic, national and foreign tourists who visit Guimaras visit the plantation and other manufacturing centers inside the complex that produce hundreds of mango-based products for foreign markets.
However, most of the plantation has been awarded to CARP beneficiaries starting in 2006, resulting in the partitioning of the land into small unproductive lots and the withdrawal of equipment and skilled personnel of Oro Verde and Marsman Corp.
Ms. Gabinete cited this as an example of inconsistent, uncoordinated national and local government policies.
She said this could have been avoided had the departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, and of Agrarian Reform -- which now form the National Convergence Initiative (NCI) -- discussed this issue.
NCI head Marriz B. Agbon, president of the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp., had said she would hold meetings to address Guimaras’s concerns.
Under the NCI, the three departments are supposed to coordinate closely in promoting agribusiness and sustainable ecosystem management, with the ultimate end in view of pushing the development of rural economies. -- F. A. L. Angelo with RLA
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