BAGUIO CITY – In its effort to strengthen collaboration with regional government line agencies in the Cordillera Administrative Cordillera (CAR), the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) convened a meeting to combine activities on strategic programs related to agriculture and fisheries.
DA-CAR OIC-Regional Executive Director Atty. Jennilyn Dawayan in her message to regional representatives from the regional offices of the departments of Social Welfare and Development, Trade and Industry, Labor and Employment, Office of the Civil Defense, Agriculture Training Institute Cordillera(ATI-CAR), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-CAR), Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA), and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) reiterated the need to consolidate comprehensive plans containing strategic and holistic projects and collaborate activities to have higher impact.
“With the approval of the GAA (General Appropriations Act), we decided to call for this meeting for regional line agencies to look for areas where we can better support our farmers and fisherfolk. There are trainings and programs that the DA is implementing wherein other regional line agencies having similar programs can connect, increasing the reach of the resources of government through complementation,” Director Dawayan said.
The Director explained that at present, DA including attached agencies ATI, BFAR, BPI, and FPA are currently conducting training programs to assist farmers and fisherfolks in improving and increasing their production.
Regional line agencies may also integrate or incorporate their programs in rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock, and organic agriculture production which are all under the banner program of the DA.
“Our banner programs provide production support services, training programs, research and development, and provision of agriculture machinery among others. Regional line agencies might compliment, scale-up, provide support to synchronize activities in the field,” Dawayan stated.
After the convergence initiatives and to avoid project shopping and duplication by DA recognized civil society organizations (CSOs), DA-CAR’s Project Monitoring and Evaluation Division (PMED) is tasked to review the present status of the programs and projects of CSOs as partners in implementation.
“Our PMED is making an inventory of CSOs accredited by our office, we would also want to know your CSO listings to know if we might have similar programs to avoid duplication, aside from knowing if the programs and projects are successful or not,” the Regional Executive Director added. By JTLlanes
