Mountain Province Congress Representative Maximo Dalog Jr. foresees an extension of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) not only in his Congressional district but in other areas in the country needing government support to improve the production and livelihood of farmers and fisherfolks.
This after a resolution was recently filed in the lower house by members of Congress seeking an extension of SAAD after seeing the positive contribution of the said program to their selected constituents.
“There was a house resolution filed by Congressman Olgakbo of Masbate, because of the success of SAAD they wanted this to be emulated in other areas in the country which are not SAAD identified areas since they saw the success stories of those beneficiaries of DA-CAR SAAD to which the resolution is centered on extending the program.
A house resolution is keen to a request having a little force of law seeking an extension of the program which will depend with our economic managers if they can fund this,” Dalog said.
SAAD is a locally funded program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) intended to help alleviate poverty among the marginalized sectors of agriculture and fisheries.
In the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the Department of Agriculture Cordillera Regional Field Office Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-CARSAAD) have identified Kalinga, Apayao and Mountain Province, part of the 30 priority provinces under the said program having a high poverty incidence rate among families, that were given assistance both in agriculture and fisheries since 2017.
Apayao started in 2017while Kalinga and Mountain Province started implementing SAAD in 2019.
The project components of SAAD include program management, social preparation, production and livelihood interventions, and marketing assistance, and enterprise development.
“Even if a province may be identified as a first-class province having economic or financial capabilities, but what about those municipalities within that province that are identified as fourth or fifth class municipalities that would have the opportunity to undergo the program of SAAD. For us who are personal witnesses of this DA-CAR SAAD program, we are praying that this would be extended,” the Solon added.
The SAAD Program headed by Director Myer Mula aims to give agriculture interventions on animals, crops, and fisheries to identified beneficiaries with the help of corresponding offices in the regional and provincial levels. By DASAAD CARIO
