By Edwin Fernandez/PNA
COTABATO CITY — One of the most successful programs and brainchild of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol has been making waves in his home province of North Cotabato after it made impressions in Luzon and the Visayas.
“The Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) is one of DA’s successful and effective agricultural programs,” Department of Agriculture Region 12 Director Milagros Casis said.
Even on a Sunday, Casis led the mass distribution in two municipalities of the province that included work animals, seeds, agricultural equipment, among others.
More than PHP5-million worth of farm inputs was distributed by Casis to farmer beneficiaries of preferred far-flung barangays in the towns of Midsayap and Alamada.
In her message at the Midsayap distribution event, Casis said the SAAD project was started by Piñol when he was still the governor of North Cotabato. “When he was named DA executive, Piñol brought along and improved the project,” she said.
Romulo Dioquino, president of Malamote Farmers Association of Midsayap, was visibly elated when he told Casis and other DA officials that it was the first time his group received such intervention measure from the government.
“I assure the government that we will make sure this intervention will grow,” he said.
Antonio Camino, village chair of Barangay Dado Alamada, North Cotabato, said the DA assistance would help improve the lives of poor farmers.
“This project will surely alleviate poverty and create an impact on our community,” Camino said.
Casis said more interventions were in the pipeline and would be allocated soon to farmer-beneficiaries
