BUTUAN CITY, AGUSAN DEL NORTE – Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program implementers of the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) XIII along with the National Program Management Office (NPMO) crafted the project proposals of Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur for FY 2020 to 2022. The multi-year planning (MYP) activity was held from 8 to 11 of October 2018 at Hotel Luciana, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Aside from the implementers, municipal agriculturists of the said municipalities are also participating in the event.

SAAD NPMO Planning and Budget Head Darwin Pamatmat discussed factors to consider when crafting the proposals. He also reminded them of the Department of Budget and Management’s one-year cash-based budgeting system that will start next year.

Surigao del Sur’s selected municipalities are Carmen, Bayabas, Bislig, and Lingig while Agusan del Sur’s are Rosario, Talacogon, Veruela, and San Luis.

Eight barangays will be covered in Surigao del Sur with projects such as native chicken, native goat, corn, camote, and ube production.

Meanwhile, projects proposed for Agusan del Sur are abaca, cacao, and rice production for 10 barangays.

DA RFO XIII will still finalize the proposals based on SAAD NPMO’s comments during the MYP activity.

Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur are two of the 30 priority provinces of the SAAD Program. Both were chosen due to their high Philippine Statistics Authority poverty incidence rate among families in 2015, which are at 31.9% and 37% respectively.

Both provinces will start their SAAD implementation in 2019 with a P35.3 million General Appropriations Act (GAA) budget. ###

Writer: Jhomai Caslas, SAAD PR & Communications Officer