Part I Agrarian Reform

• Agrarian Reform


  • As provided under Section 3, Chapter I, Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988
  • The redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced to farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement.
• Agrarian Reform


  • It include the totality of factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries.
  • All other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of shares of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work.
• Agrarian Reform in the Philippines


  • It seeks to solve the centuries-old problem of landlessness in rural areas.
  • Through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) initiated in 1987, the government addressed key national goals: the promotion of equity and social justice, food security, and poverty alleviation in the countryside.
  • After over 14 years of the CARP, however, the program is yet to be completed and is currently burdened with major issues - from opposition by landlords and lack of support from legislators, to wide gaps in fund resources.
• Policy Framework


  • It is the stated policy of the state to see to the welfare of the landless farmers and farmworkers, and to establish the owner-cultivatorship of economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
  • To this end, and Agrarian Reform Program which is based on the right of landless farmers and farmworkers to own the land they till, or to receive a fair share of the fruits of their labor.
• Policy Framework


  • The Program seeks to achieve this essentially through the redistribution of agricultural lands, subject to the payment of just compensation of dispossessed landowners. Agricultural land allocations shall be made for ideal family-size farms as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC).
• Significant Impacts of Agrarian Reform on Farmer Beneficiaries


  Various studies, however, have shown that agrarian reform has had a significant impact on farmer beneficiaries which include:

  • Increased per capita incomes
  • Reduced poverty incidence
  • Higher investments in physical capital
  • Greater household welfare and productivity
  • Social justice and peace attained in the countryside.
• Lessons Learned from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)


  • Agrarian reform is NOT simply a land distribution.
  • Poor farmers, used to the paternalistic ways of the old system, cannot afford to take the full risk of owning land.
  • They have to be provided with a comprehensive (as in total) package of support services before access to land can be translated into productivity and growth, and into food security and freedom from poverty.
• Lessons Learned from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)

  • Agrarian reform must involve the cooperation and participation of all sectors.
  • Without involvement by other government line agencies, the civil society, the private sector, LGUs, the landowners, and the ARBs themselves through their organizations, agrarian reform cannot gain momentum; it will drag too slowly, and have little significant impact.
• Lessons Learned from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)

  • Access to land opens growth opportunities for farmer-beneficiaries, but DOES NOT necessarily translate into actual productivity.
  • Beneficiaries must have access to other resources, such as credit, capital, technology, farm management skills, and marketing information.
• Lessons Learned from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)

  • Access to land must translate into tangible improvements within a reasonably short period of time, or else there will be a great risk of so-called ‘beneficiary defection’, in which farmer-beneficiaries abandon their stake in the land and mortgage or sell it.
  • This could lead to the reconcentration of lands in the hands of new landowners and eventually in the conversion of these lands to other uses.
• Lessons Learned from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)


  • Public support is important in strengthening the case for agrarian reform.
  • Legislators are able to block funding for the CARP because the public is not keen on the issue and does not complain.
  • It would probably make a lot of difference if the public, perhaps through civil society groups and other influential social sectors, made itself heard whenever legislators tried to slash the budget for the CARP.