Aleosan: A cooperative leader from North Cotabato said on Tuesday that recent assistance from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will enhance livelihoods by adding value to their banana products. ‘This project will improve our daily income and improve our capacity to enter into sustainable agribusiness ventures and eventually contribute to the local economy of our town,’ Gil Pastolero, chairperson of the board of the New Leon Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Aleosan, North Cotabato, said in a radio interview.

According to Philippines News Agency, on Sept. 15, DAR North Cotabato turned over a newly renovated Banana Vinegar Processing Plant worth PHP500,000 to NLMPC. The project operates under DAR’s Village Level Farm-Focused Enterprise Development (VLFED) program, which aims to strengthen agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations by supporting value-adding enterprises and promoting rural development.

Pastolero lauded DAR-North Cotabato for its continued support of NLMPC. ‘We assure DAR and partner agencies that NLMPC will work hard to sustain and grow this new business venture,’ he said.

Pinky Ponte, the Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer I (PARPO I) and concurrent Special Assistant to PARPO II of DAR-Cotabato, said that NLMPC maintains a good track record with them. ‘We are confident that the project will grow and its members will enjoy the venture’s dividend,’ she said in a statement on Tuesday. Ponte led the turnover of the project for NLMPC last week.