LUNA AND PUDTOL, APAYAO—Assorted planting materials worth one million pesos were delivered in two (2) municipalities of Apayao through the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Said interventions are under the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) project. Pudtol and Luna caters two barangays each, eight (8) hectares (has.) all in all—Aurora (2 has.), and Lower Maton (2 has.); and Salvacion (2 has.), and Cagandungan (2 has.), respectively (Php 250, 000.00 per 2-ha. site/barangay).

Thirty-five (35) farmer-partners in the municipality of Pudtol were provided with planting materials on 7 November 2018. Eighteen (18) of these are farmer-partners in Barangay Aurora, and seventeen (17) in Lower Maton. They were given the planting fruit trees (mangosteen, rambutan, cacao, durian, and calamansi) along with assorted farm tools (43 bolos, 43 hand rakes, 43 grab hoes, 8 shovels, and 8 spading forks).  They were also assisted in the demo by the wife of Aurora Barangay Captain Mrs. Clarina Pilig, alongside Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) assigned in the area.

Meanwhile, twenty-seven (27) farmer-partners are also recipients of the fruit trees in Luna on 14 November 2018. Pudtol and Luna received 380 assorted fruit trees each.

The activities in Pudtol were facilitated by the SAAD staff including Area Coordinator (AC) for Pudtol Ms. Ruby Ann Vicerra, Information Technologist (IT) Ms. Le Ann Aguirre, Administrative Assistant (AAIII) Ms. Meliza Feliciano, and Agriculture Technicians (ATs) Mr. Jeffrey Calizo and Mr. Roniel Dugay. An upcoming demo for Luna is lined-up to be done in late November 2018.

This communal-based project will also cover other municipalities aside from Pudtol and Luna, such as Calanasan, Conner, and Kabugao, with seven-hundred sixty (760) fruit trees each. ###

Contributor: Marjorie A. Tangliben, and Ruby Ann B. Vicerra, SAAD Apayao Area Coordinators (ACs); and Le Anne Aguirre, SAAD Apayao Information Technologist (IT)

Additional write-up/Copy Editor: Ela Arciaga, SAAD NPMO PR & Communications Officer