DA-SAAD NorMin bolsters DA-LGU-FCAs agri dev’t plans interfacing

 

As a scaling-up mechanism to expand the agricultural livelihood projects granted to smallholding farmers’ associations, cooperatives (FCAs), the Department of Agriculture Special Area for Agricultural Development Program – Northern Mindanao (DA-SAAD NorMin) upholds the streamlining of the DA-LGU-FCAs agricultural development plans.

In the recently concluded DA-SAAD NorMin’s midterm project assessment, the 27 SAAD-assisted FCAs from the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte and Camiguin were convened to craft a three-year development plan in alignment with the priority agricultural programs of SAAD and the LGUs.

The plan detailed the agricultural interventions needed by the FCAs to step up their farm production, product processing, and marketing activities geared toward establishing an agricultural enterprise prior to SAAD Program phase 2 culmination in 2028.

The midterm assessment provided the FCAs an opportunity to evaluate the status of their livelihood projects and formulate actionable measures to address the current and impending challenges affecting their project’s growth.

In his message, DA-Region 10 Regional Executive Director and DA-SAAD NorMin Focal Person, Jose Apollo Y. Pacamalan underscored the need for harmonized agricultural development plans from the farmers level up to the local and national governments to rally unilateral and sustainable agricultural programs.

“We need to make sure that our interventions in the next three years will boil down to increasing income. This is an indicator for reduction of poverty. We have to focus on productive projects. We have gone three years for these communities to experience how to do business as a start-up. Now, it’s the time for scaling up,” he stressed.

Now on its third-year phase 2 implementation, the DA-SAAD NorMin has assisted more than 600 marginal farmers in 26 low-income, isolated and conflict communities across the region.

Through their association or cooperative, these farmers were provided crops, livestock or crops-livestock integrated livelihood projects by the DA-SAAD NorMin to augment their means of living.

The SAAD program aims to capacitate the local farmers to go beyond sustenance farming by embracing agricultural entrepreneurship, transforming the farmers to be agripreneurs.# (ATT/Photo Credits: JAS)