THE bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by five more years or until June 30, 2014 will be signed into law today by President Arroyo.

The signing will be held in Plaridel, Bulacan.

In amending the CARP law, Congress raised the funding for the program to P150 billion for the acquisition and distribution of farm lands and for providing support to the agrarian reform beneficiaries to make the lands productive.

Within six months once the law takes effect, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will submit to Malacañang a comprehensive study on the land size appropriate for each type of crop for a possible review of limits of land sizes provided under the Act. Distribution will be made on a provincial basis.

The land awarded to a farmer beneficiary should be in the form of an individual title, covering one contiguous tract or several parcels of land cumulated up to a maximum of three.

The beneficiaries may opt for collective ownership, such as co-workers or farmers cooperative or some other form of collective organization for the issuance of collective ownership titles, among others.

The measure also includes provisions ensuring socialized terms on agricultural credit facilities, extension services, infrastructure, research, productions and use of organic fertilizers and other necessities for production.

The law ensures the rights of women CARP beneficiaries through the maintenance by DAR of women’s desks, which will formulate and implement programs that will protect and promote women’s rights.