Mt. Province hopes to be among the special areas for agri development

April 15, 2017 Community Billboard

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Mountain Province passed a resolution requesting Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol of Department Agriculture (DA) to include the province as one of the beneficiaries of the Special Areas for Agricultural Development (SAAD).
This resolution was submitted to DA Undersecretary for High Value Crops Evelyn Lavinia during the conduct of Coffee Farmers Forum last April 5, 2017 at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Bontoc, Mt. Province.
Mt. Province relies mainly on agriculture for survival and is faced with many challenges such as small farm size, limited arable lands, underutilized farm lands due to water supply constraint, low operational efficiency of existing irrigation system, deficit rural infrastructure like irrigation, roads, bridges, post-harvest facilities, high cost of farm inputs and agricultural labor, weak linkages between producers and enterprises and the competing use on agricultural lands.
The province ranks number 13 among the poorest province in the Philippines and North Luzon based on the family income and expenditure survey of 2015 by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The SP of Mountain Province believes that being included in the SAAD will benefit the farmers of the province to have an alternative livelihood, increase crop production and farm income that will contribute to the economic growth and development of the province.
Under the SAAD, the DA has allocated P100 million worth of livelihood programs to help improve the lives of the farmers in the ten poorest province in the country and only province of Apayao in the region was included the coverage area.
Meanwhile, Laviña assured that this resolution will be passed to the Office of Secretary Piñol for review. A.Canero/PR / ABN