GENERAL SANTOS CITY–The provincial government of Sarangani has started preparations for the expansion of its flagship diversified upland farming development project this year.
Agnes Du, provincial coordinator of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (Saad) program, said Thursday they expect the release of an additional P50 million grant from the Department of Agriculture (DA) to facilitate the expansion next month.
DA released an initial grant of P100 million in 2016 for the implementation of the project in selected poor upland barangays in the province.
She said the additional allocation would bring the project’s total funding in the last three years to P150 million.
“This will enable us to expand the project to more remote upland barangays,” she said in a statement.
Since 2016, Du said some 37 upland barangays within the province’s seven municipalities have already benefited from the project, which focuses on upland rice and white corn production.
The local government expanded its implementation to 30 more barangays last year from the initial seven “poorest” villages that were identified as pilot areas.
Under the project, local farmers received farm inputs like seeds and fertilizers as well as technical and livelihood assistance.
Citing their monitoring, Du said the initiative has helped increase the yield and significantly improved the lives of upland farmers.
She cited the case of poor farmers in Sitio Sufa Mlanob, Barangay Tamban in Malungon town that was included in the first batch of beneficiary-areas.
Farmers in the area were able to rid themselves of long-time debts and have stopped borrowing money to purchase inputs.
The average palay yield per hectare in the area has increased in the last two years, reaching 15 sacks or nearly one ton last May.
Through the project, farmers were able to embark on alternative livelihood ventures like vegetable growing and raising of various farm animals.
Local farmers also underwent mentoring and values formation sessions to ensure that the projects will be sustained.
SAAD was launched by DA as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s thrust to increase food production and alleviate poverty in the poorest provinces in the country. (PNA)
