SURIGAO DEL SUR - The Department of Agriculture Caraga proceeded with delivering 96 bags of corn seeds to five beneficiary associations of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program in Surigao del Sur on June 29, 2020.

The bags of OPV white corn seeds worth P172,800 will benefit 148 members of five indigenous associations in Carmen (GAFA and MAMASAHI), Bislig (CRAB and BURNACHICA), and Lingig (Pinanapatan Farmers’ Association). They belong to areas classified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (2015) with the highest poverty incidence in Caraga.

For this project alone, SAAD allotted Php 583, 670.97 for Gacub Agricultural Farmers' Association (GAFA), Php 690,049.03 for Mag-uumang Manobo sa Hinapoyan Association (MAMASAHI), Php 112,566.67 for Chicken Raisers' Association of Burboanan (CRAB), Php 77,733.33 for Burboanan Native Chicken Raisers' Association (BURNACHICA), and Php 668,000 for Pinanapatan Farmers' Association.

Prior to SAAD's intervention, some of the indigenous recipients had been planting corn. Aside from agricultural inputs, SAAD provided training on corn production last year to equip them with the appropriate technologies needed to have an optimized production not only for subsistence consumption but also for market purposes.

According to MAMASAHI President Venancio P. Meniano, his association will plant the corn seeds in August this year.

These associations have been SAAD recipients since 2019. Aside from corn production, BURNACHICA (Bislig) is also raising native chickens.

Despite strict quarantine measures due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the region, SAAD - Caraga ensures that all target projects are sustained with deliveries of agricultural inputs. The rest of the deliverables such as fertilizers, vegetable seeds, farm tools, laminated sacks, and biologics, are expected to be distributed in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

SAAD is a locally-funded program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) intended to help alleviate poverty among the marginalized sectors of agriculture and fishery in the country. Since 2019, DA Caraga has started providing SAAD projects in Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur (with reports from APCO-SDS)

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