Farmer, fisher groups' support needed to ramp up DA's programs

by PIA LAGUNA January 28, 2021 On Thursday, January 21, the DA Region 4A spearheaded a consultation workshop with the heads of local agricul...

by PIA LAGUNA
January 28, 2021

On Thursday, January 21, the DA Region 4A spearheaded a consultation workshop with the heads of local agriculture and veterinary offices in the region to identify business activities and issues and concerns of identified farmers’ associations and cooperatives.

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – The Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 4A urged local government units across the region to mobilize the support of local farmers' associations and cooperatives (FAC) for them to expedite the rollout and implementation of various assistance and support programs.

“Magtulong-tulong po tayo na kumbinsihin ang mga magsasaka at kani-kanilang mga kooperatiba at asosasyon na magsama-sama at magkaisa upang mas madali at mabilis nating maipaabot sa kanila ang mga tulong at suporta ng DA at maging ng iba pang mga ahensya ng gobyerno," said Officer-in-Charge (OIC)-Regional Executive Director Vilma M. Dimaculangan .



"Maraming Pilipino ang umaasa sa sektor ng agrikultura pagdating sa pagkamit ng kasapatan sa pagkain kaya nararapat po na tulungan natin nang husto ang ating mga food producer, ang ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda,” Dimaculangan added.

Dimaculangan made the call as its Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Bayanihan Agricultural Cluster (BAC) Program of the DA Region IV-A finalizes the identification of priority areas and plans for the implementation of the project.



She stressed that with the help of local government units in mobilizing the support of farmers and fishers, the agriculture department would be able to speed up the implementation of programs and activities that seek to achieve economies of scale in terms of production, postharvest, processing, and marketing.

According to DA Region 4A, the BAC program is one of the 12 new strategies of the agriculture department which is an inclusive approach to accelerate modernized and developed agriculture.



The program is expected to empower farmers to gain more benefits from the agriculture value chain as it will converge and integrate government interventions such as the provision of loans, farm mechanization, free seeds and fertilizers, and market support.

Institutionalized under the Food Security Development Framework, the BAC is being implemented through other DA programs on rice, corn, high-value crops, livestock, organic farming, urban agriculture, and fisheries.

On Thursday, January 21, the DA Region 4A spearheaded a consultation workshop with the heads of local agriculture and veterinary offices in the region in which they identified the business activities and issues, and concerns of identified cluster FACs.

The DA Region 4A said the consultation workshop would help determine the compatibility of DA programs with the clustered FCAs.

DA said more activities are expected to take place prior to the full implementation of the program to ensure that the program reaches its intended beneficiaries. These include the validation of priority cluster areas and conduct profiling and needs assessment activities which will begin next month. (with reports from DA Region 4A)