The province of Occidental Mindoro was chosen to be one of the beneficiaries of the Special Area for Agriculture Development (SAAD) program thru its planning and workshop held at San Jose on March 13-15, 2018.
The SAAD program aims to alleviate poverty in the poorest provinces of the country through the provision of agricultural and related interventions to the poor in the farming and fisheries sector. Furthermore, (1) to improve food production for household consumption and commercial purpose in areas of operation; (2) to assist beneficiaries to establish agri- enterprises; and lastly (3) to complement DA regular programs in terms of beneficiaries and interventions.
The region will benefit along with the provinces of Kalinga, Mountain Province, Negros Occidental, Antique, Bohol, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, Agusan Del Sur, and Surigao Del Sur.
This workshop was facilitated by the SAAD National Program Director Bernadette F. San Juan and SAAD PR and Communications Cluster Head Mr. Ulysses J. Lustria, Jr. who was assisted by DA-MiMaRoPa Planning Officers Josephine de Sales and Dr. NexBasi.
The participants for this activity are from two chosen barangays from the four (4) municipalities of Abra de Ilog, Paluan, Sta. Cruz, and Magsaysay. They were represented by their Brgy. captains, agriculture committee head, and their Municipal Agriculturists.
During the program, Dir. San Juan discussed the introduction of the said program and its guidelines to the participants. She reiterated that the assistance of SAAD will be only limited to Upland Rice and Corn Production, Backyard Livestock and Value Crops Production. On the other hand, she added that Infrastructure Projects, Irrigation systems, Regulatory Services like laboratories, processing, and training centers will not be the scope of their project.
After her discussion, the participants, with the help of DA- MiMaRoPa’s PMED staff helped the participants to propose their programs for the years 2018-2022.
O the following day, the representatives of each municipality presented their planned interventions for their selected barangays for the following years. While reporting, Director San Juan helped the presents to improve their proposed plan.
At the end, the SAAD and PMED staff, together with the participants agreed that they will be working for this program until its implementation and will monitor each of the participating municipalities and barangays.
