Cagayan de Oro City, March 26 – The Department of Agriculture – Northern Mindanao (DA-10) drums up the processing of Foodlane applications  with the issuance of  1,483  conduct passes to suppliers and truckers of food and agri-fishery products as of 8:00 p.m. on March 25.

DA-10 started its receipt of applications on March 19 with the issuance of memo circular from DA Secretary William D. Dar to ensure unhampered movement of agri-fishery commodities within the region and the country, as a whole, in the light of the COVID-19 crisis with the issuances of community quarantine in different areas.

“This [initiative] is in response to the agriculture secretary’s directive of ensuring unhampered and unimpeded transit in all quarantine checkpoints, so that Filipino households will have access to safe and affordable food amid the COVID-19 crisis,” Carlene C. Collado, the regional executive director of DA-10 said.

Of the total, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) of DA-10 reported that issuances were done throughout Northern Mindanao.

At the regional office alone which is situated here in the city, 1,200 foodlane passes were released;  83 from the DA-10 research stations in Bukidnon province (57 from Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Complex in Malaybalay City and 26 from the Research Center for Upland Development in Dangcagan).

For the provincial operations centers (POCs) across the region, Misamis Occidental has also issued 30, Lanao del Norte 8, and Bukidnon with 100 while 48 are still on process.

Attached bureaus and agencies in the region, have also contributed to the overall number of issuances – 43 from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources at Macabalan, CdeO; and 19 from the National Meat Inspection Service in El Salvador City.

“Initially, we have only processed the applications in our main office at Antonio Luna Street and thru online submissions.

However, to seamlessly cater to our increasing number of applicants, we have also put in place processing centers across NorMin through our POCs and research stations, including our Regulatory Division at Macabalan, also here in CdeO,” the DA exec noted.

The strategy addresses the clamor of the increasing applicants from the provinces that are posed with challenges in securing the foodlane passes with the declaration of many local governments under community quarantine throughout the region.

DA-10 through its regional office and identified processing centers across NorMin, together with its attached bureaus and agencies, is still open in accepting foodlane applications.

For information and guidance, one may access the following links – https:/bit.ly/3aYJKBQ and https://bit.ly/38Z71sc while online submissions should be forwarded to this email: amad1northmin@gmail.com.

“With the good turnout of applicants, they too have played a significant role in contributing to DA’s three-pronged objectives of food productivity and availability, food accessibility and mobility, and food price stability,” the directed pointed out. #