RESEARCH

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 farmer-beneficiaries and their immediate families for income-generating projects, thereby increasing their household incomes and stimulating industrial activity in their communities; and 2. To harness the landowners’ land compensation toward investments in viable agro-industrial projects in their respective communities, municipalities, provinces and/or regions, thereby providing local employment opportunities and ultimately spurring countryside development.
Program assistance is directed to Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) nationwide. DTI-CARP provides support services to farmers and affected landowners and their families. Particularly, it assists cooperatives/associations of farmers, landowners, women, and youths, who are capable of managing micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The program provides comprehensive package of support services to stimulate agro-industrial activities in the ARCs. These services are in the form of: * Trainings/Seminars. Productivity improvement, managerial, basic and upgrading skills trainings/seminars guiding thebeneficiaries with right values/attitudes toward entrepreneurship; * Studies. Preparation of pre-investment studies, feasibility studies, market studies and research, and other relevant studies generating investments in MSMEs in the ARCs; * Market Development Assistance. Market development through trade fairs, market matching, selling missions, market information services/promotional collaterals and product development, which includes designing, prototyping, packaging, labeling, and product/quality improvement; and * Consultancy Services. Providing expert advice on areas related to planning, development, management, and operation of MSMEs.
After almost 22 years of implementation, the question of whether the program has moved towards the attainment of its efficiency and equity objectives may be asked. In order to determine the status and performance of the program implementation, the researcher thought of undertaking this study.
This assessment is a means of determining the level of success as well as failures of the program and could serve as a feedback mechanism for the Department of Trade and Industry, National Program Office, NGOs, beneficiaries, and other parties involved in the undertaking. This is likewise a helpful medium for knowing the areas which need to be improved and may greatly contribute to the formulation of recommendations which will serve to strengthen the performance of the program.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This study assessed the Impact of the DTI – CARP in the lives of the Assisted Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC’s) in the Province of Albay. Specifically, it answered the following questions: 1. What are the profiles of the ARC’s Assisted? a. Name of Association / Cooperative or Individual Entrepreneur, b. Address or Location of the Business, c. Type of Business, d. Legal Status, e. Company size or Number of employees, and f. Major Product Lines? 2. What was the status of the community before and after the assistance/entry of DTI-CARP Program? a. Household’s monthly income, and b. Level of poverty threshold? 3. What were the existing livelihood conditions of the community before and after the assistance/entry of DTI-CARP Program? a. Personnel, b. Marketing, and c. Production? 4. What were the assistances / strategies made to alleviate the community from poverty? 5. What were the problems encountered by the DTI-CARP Officer in implementing the projects and the solutions made?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The end result of this study may convey useful and valuable information to interested parties, which include the Department of Trade and Industry, National Program Office, Government planners and policy-makers, the academe, and the researchers. The Department of Trade and Industry, who is directly responsible of the program’s end result, this study may serve as an assessment tool in measuring the performance of the program in the area of coverage and/or purpose. The observations and findings will assist in the generation of recommendations which may improve existing policies and strengthen the over-all performance of the program. The National Program Office (NPO) Management who are tasked to evaluate, assess, approve or disapprove projects presented beneficiaries, may be interested in the output of this study inasmuch as they play an important role on the over-all performance of the program. This may give them substantive inputs in the review of existing policies and in the assessment of the PO’s respective performance in relation to the project. The Government Planners and Policy-Makers may look into the output of this study as a basis for formulating plans and programs to support the activities of the DTI-CARP, in line with the government’s effort to tap them as partners in the attainment of socio-economic development. The Academe, this study may give additional information and knowledge on the over-all management of DTI-CARP in the areas of operations and administration. And lastly, to the researchers, who are working on related topics or problems, this study may serve as a reference materials.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION This study focused on the Impact of DTI – CARP Program in the lives of Assisted Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC’s) in the Province of Albay.
The coverage of the study were those cities / municipalities under the Agrarian Reform Communities/Beneficiaries presently assisted by the Department of Trade and Industry – Albay Provincial Office namely; Tiwi, Malinao, Bacacay, Legazpi, Daraga, Guinobatan, Oas, Polangui and Libon.
The study attempted to determine the profile of the identified beneficiaries and their prevailing conditions along personnel, marketing, production and finance.
Similarly, the studies attempted also to provide solutions to the problems identified.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
MSME - The Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (RA 6977, as amended by RA 8289 and further amended by RA 9501) defines an MSME as any business activity or enterprise, whether single proprietorship, cooperative, partnership or corporation, engaged in the following: * Industry * agribusiness * trade * services
MSMEs are categorized as micro, small or medium on the basis of the values of their total assets, inclusive of those arising from loans but exclusive of the lands on which the particular business entities’ offices, plants and equipment are situated.
Category Total Assets
Micro enterprise not more than P 3,000,000
Small enterprise P 3,000,001 – 15,000,000
Medium enterprise P15,000,001 – 100,000,000

CARP – Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
“the redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farm workers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of factors andsupport servicesdesigned to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries and all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of shares of stock, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work.”
Status of the community – the state of living of the people who reside in the locality
Strategies – plans, tactics or schemes made to relieve or ease from poverty
Poverty – a condition that relates to the absence or scarcity of requisite substance or elements

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the methods used, the sources of data, the population of the study, the survey instrument for data gathering procedure, quantification of variables, and the statistical treatment of the data gathering.

METHOD USED This study made use of the descriptive research methodology. The description of the variables presented the profile of the ARC’s Assisted, the status and livelihood conditions of the community before and after the assistance/entry of DTI-CARP Program, the problems encountered in the project implementation and the solutions recommended.

SOURCE OF DATA The primary sources of data were provided by the responses from the respondents within the Province of Albay. The group of respondents consisted of 1 representative from 6 chosen associations/cooperatives/individual entrepreneur covered by ARC areas, the business owner, president/chairman or any of its key officers who were most knowledgeable about the project. A total of 6 respondents were considered in the study. Table A shows the sources of data which served as the population of the study for the ARC’s concerned:
TABLE A
RESPONDENTS
RESPONDENTS | NUMBER | PERCENT | Chairman | 2 | 33.33% | President | 1 | 16.67% | Owner / Proprietor | 3 | 50.00% | TOTAL | 6 | 100% |

Profile of the Respondents The profile of the ARC’s Assisted as shown in Table 1 are composed of Name of Association / Cooperative or Individual Entrepreneur, Address or Location of the Business, Type of Business, Legal Status, Company Size or Number of Employees, Major Product Lines.
TABLE 1
PROFILE OF THE ARC’s ASSISTED ARC’s PROFILE | FREQUENCY | PERCENT | Type of MSME / BusinessAssociationCooperativeIndividual Entrepreneur | 123 | 16.67%33.33%50.00% | Location of the Business1st District of Albay2nd District of Albay3rd District of Albay | 132 | 16.67%50.00%33.33% | Legal StatusDTI SECCDA | 312 | 50.00%16.67%33.33% | Company Size / No. of Employees1 – 10 Employees/Members11 – 20 Employees/Members21 - 30 Employees/Members31 - above Employees/Members | 2112 | 33.33%16.67%16.67%33.33% | Major Product LinesFoodGifts and HousewaresOrganic Products | 231 | 33.33%50.00%16.67% |

Type of Business and MSME. The types of businesses and MSME’s of the 6 chosen MSMEs covered by ARC Areas were one or 16.67% of the total respondents belong to association, 2 or 33.33% from the cooperative, and 50.00% from the individual entrepreneur. Location of the Business. One or 16.67% respondents belong to the 1st District of Albay, 3 or 50.00% respondents belong to the 2nd District, and 2 or 33.33% of the respondents belong to the 3rd District of Albay. Legal Status. 50.00% of the total respondents were registered to DTI, 16.67% were registered to SEC, and 33.33% were registered to CDA. Company Size. The company size of the respondents ranging from 1 – 10 has a percentage of 33.33%, 16.67% belong to the ranges of 11 – 20, 16.67% belongs to ranges 21 – 30, and 33.33% belongs to ranges 31 - above number of employees / members of the individual entrepreneur/association/cooperative. Major Product Lines. Two or 33.33% of the respondents belong to the Food Sector, 50.00% belong to the Gifts and Housewares, and 16.67% belong to the Organic Products.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT USED In this study, survey questionnaire was used as the data-gathering tool. The questionnaire was intended for the Chairman, President, Project Manager, and other key officers that were knowledgeable with the project. The survey questionnaire was divided into four parts, to wit: the profile of the ARC’s Assisted, the status of the community before the assistance of DTI-CARP Program, the existing livelihood conditions before the assistance of DTI-CARP Program, strategies made to alleviate the community from poverty, and the problems encountered by the DTI-CARP Office in implementing the project and the solutions made. The research instrument was developed by referring to related reference materials.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE Gathering of data lasted for almost 1 month. The long duration of gathering the data is because of the distance of the areas covered and at the same time hectic schedule of the researcher in her field of work. Since the researcher covered almost all districts of the Province of Albay, the survey questionnaires were personally distributed and followed up by the researcher herself. With these approaches, the retrieval rate was100 percent realized.

STATISTICAL TREATMENT The data gathered from the respondents were transformed into tables to facilitate interpretation and analysis interpretation of data. The statistical tools used were as follows: 1. Interval data, such as Company Size or Number of Employees / Members, household monthly income and level of poverty threshold. 2. The frequency and percentage distribution were used for data in categorical measures, and the mean was computed in determining quantitative measures in the interval measures.