Former rebels (FRs) and residents of Barangay Cabacungan, La Castellana town in Negros Occidental, will soon benefit from a bamboo village project spearheaded by L.N. Agustin Farms to promote peace and create sustainable livelihoods in the province.
In a statement on Tuesday, October 21, L.N. Agustin Farms announced plans to establish a 4-hectare bamboo village with a processing center that will train and employ FRs and local residents to produce high-quality bamboo products.
The Philippine Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion recently secured a half-hectare lot within the site for a proposed patrol base aimed at ensuring peace and order around the Bamboo Facility and its surrounding communities, the company said.
The firm added that it will train FRs in bamboo processing to help them reintegrate into society and earn stable incomes. It also aims to provide alternative livelihoods for locals during Tiempo Muerto— the sugar industry’s “dead season” in Negros when milling operations halt and work becomes scarce.
Diversification
The company, which has long cultivated sugarcane, said it launched the bamboo initiative to generate both economic and environmental benefits for the community.
The project aligns with and advances the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) “bamboo villages” program, which promotes bamboo as a key tool to mitigate climate change and create rural jobs.
In 2023, The Philippine Star quoted then-Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor B. Savellano as saying the program attracts private sector investment and strengthens community-based enterprises.
He said the government aims to tap into the $90-billion global bamboo market by 2030 and build the bamboo industry into a major pillar of the country’s green economy, as the Philippines ranks among the world’s top bamboo producers.*
