DAVAO CITY -- A team of agriculture experts will conduct a lecture series on livelihood projects targeting Mindanao's poorest provinces, especially in the conflict-affected areas, starting January 2020.
In a statement on Thursday, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said a team of agriculture experts will teach rural folks on raising native chicken and goat, cattle fattening, as well as vegetable farming.
“My advocacy is to achieve peace and prosperity in Mindanao through simple livelihood projects” said Piñol.
He said that a certain Arnel Corpuz, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who had long experience in cattle fattening in Australia and owns the Adelaide Farm, is joining this advocacy program of MinDA.
The livelihood projects will be hosted under the Livelihood Opportunities in Villages for Economic Upliftment (LOVE-U) program, which aims to reduce poverty and contribute to attainment of peace and security in Mindanao.
“We will identify priority areas for the lecture series which include the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Maguindanao and Saranggani, which are among the 10 poorest provinces in the country. These areas also were recently devastated by the series of earthquakes”, Piñol said.
The island provinces of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, which are being positioned as the sources of supplies needed in reopening of the Barter Trade with Sabah, are also identified as priority areas for the LOVE-U program.
In a recent visit to Sabah, Malaysia late last month, Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal informed Secretary Piñol during a call with Asian Development Bank (ADB) Executive Director Paul Dominguez that the territory needs a supply of halal beef, goat meat, free-range native chicken, fruits, and vegetables for its growing tourism industry.
Piñol said that the Sabah chief minister agreed to engage the farmers from Mindanao, especially in the three island provinces, to supply the needed commodities.
He added that in order to supply the needs of the local people and the prospective Sabah market, MinDA will undertake the training of agriculture stakeholders, who will be organized and given production support.
"MinDA will be linking up with funding partners to support the organized farmers' group,” said Piñol. Pinol also said that MinDA will lead an agriculture and trade mission to Sabah and Sarawak on the third week of January 2020.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1088130
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.