ILOILO CITY, Iloilo (PIA) — Agricultural and economic development in the agrarian reform communities (ARCs) around Passi City and some other Iloilo municipalities are expected to be further enhanced and sustained with the convergence of key government agencies’ resources and programs.

Iloilo Provincial Agrarian Reform officer II, Gideon Umadhay Jr. said Passi City and a dozen Iloilo municipalities surrounding the Jalaur River Basin will benefit from the Enhanced National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development launched by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) which is part of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III’s administration’s commitment to ensure countryside development as an effective poverty reduction strategy.

Umadhay said under the program, the identified municipalities will be transformed into a local convergence agro-enterprise cluster where the DA, DENR, DAR and other agencies will converge their resources for the implementation of various initiatives and programs.

Identified as program beneficiaries are Iloilo municipalities Calinog, Lambunao, Janiuay, Badiangan, Mina, Pototan in the third district; and Anilao, Dingle, Dumangas, San Enrique, Btac. Nuevo, Duenas, and Passi City in the fourth district.

Except for Mina and Pototan towns, all the identified areas have ARCs comprised of barangays with farmers who are recipients of lands and support services under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

According to a NCI briefer, the agencies have committed some P275.7 million in funds this year to ensure the rehabilitation of natural resources, food security, and livelihood in aforesaid towns to help alleviate poverty in those rural areas.

Umadhay said among the concrete initiatives to be implemented in said agro-enterprise cluster will be the construction of a modern integrated processing complex in Pototan. The project has a grant from the Korean International Cooperative Agency.