DA SAAD-10 prepares for its five-year extension and expansion to continue providing agri-livelihood assistance to the marginal farmers in NorMin.

 

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program of the Department of Agriculture convened its Regional Program Management Support Office (RPMSO) and Provincial Program Management Support Office (PPMSO) on Friday, February 4, 2022, to set down 5-year priority plans and activities as SAAD’s phase 2 implementation is underway.

Once approved, the SAAD extension and expansion will be implemented in the region for another 5-year period from 2023-2028, providing agri-livelihood assistance to more underprivileged farmers in all five provinces of Northern Mindanao – Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, and Camiguin.

Under the headship of Carlene C.  Collado, DA-RFO 10 Regional Executive Director, the first phase of the SAAD was implemented in Northern Mindanao in 2017 until now, covering a total of 30 towns in the provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte, and 22 towns in Lanao del Sur in its first-year implementation in 2017.

The SAAD program is being pushed for extension and expansion by the Department of Agriculture, underscoring the program’s contribution in easing poverty incidence in poverty-stricken rural areas in the country in the last five years.

Initially debuted as a locally-funded program aimed at ensuring food availability in poor Filipino farmers’ homes, the SAAD program hopes to assist smallholding farmer groups in Northern Mindanao to establish a community-based enterprise in its phase 2 implementation.

The SAAD program will complement the effort of the DA’s banner programs to augment food production for household and commercial purposes in attaining such an objective.

Social preparation, food production and livelihood, marketing assistance and enterprise development, and program management are the key components of the SAAD in its anticipated extension and expansion.

Specific municipalities to be assisted were identified based on the prevailing poverty incidence per PSA 2018 poverty incidence data, and Income Classification of Municipalities, consistent with Department of Finance Order 23-08.

Poorest municipalities in the 5 provinces of the region are favored for inclusion in the SAAD Program in the next five years.

According to Lana May S. Racines, SAAD – 10 focal person, planning- workshop with the prospect SAAD-assisted LGUs is slated on February 16-18, 2022 to streamline SAAD Phase 2 programs and projects.# (ATalib)