Graduates of courses related to farming in the Province of Cagayan will each be given a hectare of agricultural land.
The granting of land is in accordance with Executive Order No. 75 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, which provides that lands owned by the government which are no longer utilized will be distributed to beneficiaries such as agriculture graduates and retired police and military personnel.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has identified 549 hectares within the Cagayan State University campus in Lal-lo and 73 hectares in Piat.
“Dahil po doon sa limited na lupa na ipamimigay namin nailimit muna natin ‘yung award dito sa mga agriculture graduates (Due to limited lands that we can give, we have limited the awarding to agriculture graduates),” Nida Agustin of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office stated.
There are currently 45 applicants for the program but the screening has been tightened. Cagayan is one of the three provinces that initially implemented the executive order which aims to put into use unutilized lands suitable for agriculture to support the country’s food sufficiency. – Report from Oliver Baccay/PIA Cagayan
