Antipas farmers receive P817-K interventions from DA

Antipas, North Cotabato. Around 500 farmers coming from different barangays of this town flocked at the covered court of Barangay Dolores on July 08 (Sunday) to welcome the Department of Agriculture led by Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

Secretary Piñol brought his recent Biyaheng Bukid to this highland and interior municipality of North Cotabato saying that “this barangay is close to my heart.”

As the highlight of the event, Piñol distributed close to P700, 000 worth of agri-fishery interventions to the local government of Antipas, which included P181, 500 production inputs from the Rice Program; P436, 500 corn seeds from the Corn Program; P12,550 worth of planting materials courtesy of the High Value Crops Development Program; P30,000 worth of modules of sheep from the Livestock Program; and P35,000 worth of farm implements was granted by the Organic Agriculture Program.

Meanwhile, to address the poor road conditions in the area, Piñol vowed to include in the 2020 DA budget the concreting of 1.8-kilometer farm-to-market road that connects the villages of Dolores and Datu Selo. Initial allocation is put at P20 million.

“We (DA) may not be able to complete all FMRs within this year but I promise that it will all be finalized before my term ends,” Piñol said.

He also committed around P20-M available credit under the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program for the municipality of Antipas.

At the sideline of the activity was the launching of the Barangay Food Terminal (BFT) cum Bigasan ng Bayan in Barangay Dolores. This BFT has a freezer, digital weighing scale, crates, and NFA rice worth P50,000. Valued at P450, 000, the project has a P70,000 fund allotment for building improvement, as well as trainings and seminars.

SAAD awards P117-K farm implements

The Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program distributed more than P117, 000 worth of farm implements which included 25 knapsack sprayers; 25 water sprinklers; 24 rakes; and 72 lagaraos. (DA-RAFIS 12)

PR No. 02

DA-SAAD distributes P475-K goats to Sultan Kudarat province farmers

The Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program of the Department of Agriculture visited the coastal towns of Lebak and Kalamansig to deliver 120 goats worth P475, 000.

DA 12 Regional Executive Director Milagros Casis led the delivery and turn-over of the intervention to these towns’ villages on July 4 and 5.

For municipality of Lebak, DA-SAAD team distributed 29 goats to Barangay Keytodac and 30 goats to Barangay Salansang.

On the other hand, the program awarded 30 goats to Barangay Paril and 31 goats to Barangay Sangay in Kalamansig.

Director Casis told the farmer-beneficiaries that the government is doing its best to reach the far-flung areas to make sure that each underserved Filipino will be provided with the support that they need for them to improve their living conditions.

“If you’re going to seriously manage and maximize this intervention that you received from the government, you will be able to uplift your life,” she stressed.

SAAD is one of the pet projects of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol aimed at contributing to the attainment of the available and affordable food campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Secretary Piñol has said that SAAD was cited by the Philippine Statistics Authority as one of the government programs that greatly contributes in the economic progress of the country. (DA-RAFIS 12)

New agri lab in Region 12 eyed to thwart animal diseases threats

General Santos City. Animal and human health concerns in Region 12 will soon be easily addressed with the inauguration of renovated and improved laboratory as well as facilities of the Department of Agriculture 12 (DA 12).

The new Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) of the DA 12 located here was inaugurated on June 04, 2018 to unravel concerns such as enhancing prevention, detection, treatment and eradication of zoonotic diseases, and human transmission.

This project was implemented under the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) of the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (US-DTRA), proposed by the DA through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards.

Lance Brooks, the Program Director of CBEP, and Dr. Ronnie Domingo, the OIC-Director of the DA-BAI, were the guests-of-honor during the inauguration rite. They were also joined by the delegates from the US-DTRA, the top management of the DA 12 and local officials.

DA 12 Regional Executive Director Milagros Casis said that this project aligns fully with the priorities set out in the vision of the DA, specifically, to develop national laboratories and regional integrated agricultural laboratories.

“This project is in line with the prescription of the Department Order 4, Series of 2017 entitled Department Policy on Rationalizing and Strengthening DA National and Regional Laboratory Services,” she said.

Casis added that the project could surely prevent outbreaks involving animal diseases which not only have negative impacts in the agricultural production but also on the exposure of humans to zoonotic pathogens as this pose direct threats to human health.

Meanwhile, Director Brooks noted that the project is a defense against the increasing number of severe risks from animal diseases set to occur in the Asia-Pacific Region.

“The reported cases could occur either as epidemic or endemic not only in your country but also across national boundaries and territories,” the foreign official added.

The inauguration was just part of the P230-Million Enhancement of the Biosafety and Biosecurity Capabilities at the DA Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories which also covers the construction of new facilities and improvement of labs of RADDLs in Regions 2, 3, 7, 10, and 11, and as well the lab at the DA-BAI in Quezon City.

The project components included the construction and renovation, provision of laboratory and IT equipment, supplies for sustaining capacities for disease diagnosis, and training for lab personnel.

In the country, routine and primary diagnosis is performed at the RADDLs. (CULAguillon)

Approved for release by:

MILAGROS CAPAO-AN CASIS, CE

      Regional Executive Director

KALIMUDAN LOGO 2017

Cong. Datu Suharto 'Teng' Mangudadatu, Sultan Kudarat Province

Vice Governor Datu Raden C. Sakaluran, Sultan Kudarat Province

Governor Datu Pax S. Mangudadatu, Sultan Kudarat Province

Duterte-ordered Liguasan Marsh dredging hailed

COTABATO CITY – Victims of perennial inundations have hailed a recent announcement about President Duterte having ordered the dredging of four major rivers in the country, notably the 622,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh that usually spills massive floods in Central Mindanao during rainy days.

Most praises came from thousands of villagers and officials in Maguindanao, the country’s “land of flooded plains” to most number of Muslim Filipinos, where rains lasting for less than an hour always meant

“This (announced Presidential order) is most welcomed. It bespeaks of impending relief for us,” the Maguindanao’s league of 36 municipalities led by Mayor Freddie Mangudadatu said in a text message, citing common sentiments among majority of the province’s more than one million residents.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said the President has ordered the dredging of the Liguasan Marsh and the three major flood-spewing rivers of Agusan, Pampanga and Cagayan provinces.

“President Rody Duterte last night approved my recommendation to start the dredging of four major rivers in the country which are heavily silted resulting to floods which destroy crops and properties every year,” Piñol said in a news report he wrote and published last Wednesday.

Duterte “directed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to work with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to implement the dredging,” Piñol said.

“The long-term (anti-flood) solution agreed by the DENR, DA and DILG during a meeting Monday was to implement the President's directive of a total log ban in the headwaters of the rivers and to reforest the mountains,” he added.

Piñol said the “dredging operations will be a stop-gap measure to avert flooding in areas (surrounding the Liguasan Marsh and in Agusan, Pampanga and Cagayan) where rivers pass through.”

The announcement was silent about the role of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) in the implementation and supervision of dredging and rehabilitation of the 622,000-herctare Liguasan Marsh, the largest water-catch basin in Southern Philippines spanning Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and parts of South Cotabato.

The Arroyo administration had allocated P50-million for the planning alone of anti-flood interventions in the Liguasan Marsh. The Aquino government approved in 2015 a P6.97-billion budget for a corresponding rehabilitation package, designating MinDA as main project oversight body.

The provincial governments of Maguindnao, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato usually declared a state calamity in their respective areas every time heavy rains-driven inundation occurred and displaced thousands of families in low-lying towns.

Since the brunt of inundations usually gripped its constituents, the Maguindanao provincial government had declared a state of calamity in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It almost made a similar declaration this year, but the plan prevailed upon by technical workers’ reports that locally-initiated dredging operations were gaining headway.

Maguindanao officials, out of a P1-billion government loan, purchased in 2016 two modern dredging machines now operating in rivers cascading to and from the Liguasan Marsh. But technical people said the two dredgers’ works would not suffice, stressing the need for speedy start of the stalled Liguasan Marsh project. (Ali G. Macabalang)