The Department of Agrarian Reform in Central Visayas is validating reports that some properties covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program have been abandoned by farmer beneficiaries, due to lack of government support.

DAR Region 7 director Yusoph Mama yesterday said he has ordered field personnel to determine if the farmers are still occupying and tilling the lands awarded to them. Mama said he has yet to receive reports from the municipal agrarian reform officers, to determine what happened to the lands covered by CARP.

He lamented that some municipal agrarian reform officers cannot even determine the areas planted to certain crops in their jurisdiction.

Mama said agriculture regional director, Ed Lecciones, had told him that the inventory on the status of lands distributed under the CARP was to cover the entire country.

He said DAR provincial offices were given only until September 28 this year to finish the inventory of raw lands, and areas being planted to coconut, sugar, and other crops.

"We still have plenty of lands to be developed for jatropha propagation. We need a lot of hard work to do that," Mama said at the provincial launching and orientation of the Sugarcane Grow project in Dumaguete City recently.

He challenged service providers and private individuals to invest in the tractor business, in coordination with the Land Transportation Office, to benefit small farmer groups who can not afford to buy farm equipment and implements.*JG

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