EASTERN SAMAR, PHILIPPINES —Fifty-nine (59) Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Eastern Samar beneficiaries from General MacArthur, Bigo and Conception in Arteche received three (3) swine heads for fattening on December 28, 2017.

Farming and fishing remain as Eastern Samar’s leading economic activities with roughly three-fourths of the total estimated employed persons engaged in said activities. However, low productivity in agriculture and fishery continue to hamper the province’s economy.

The SAAD program aims to help alleviate poverty in the poorest provinces of the country through the provision of agricultural and related interventions to the poor in the farming and fisheries sector.

Eastern Samar is one of the SAAD priority provinces having a poverty incidence among families of 37.4% based on the 2015 data of the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Writer: Ela Arciaga, SAAD PR & Communications Officer

Source/s: http://pia.gov.ph/provinces/eastern-samar; Mitch Abucay, IT for Eastern Samar; PSA 2015 poverty report