ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, PHILIPPINES—The Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) delivers livelihood support to twenty-six (26) partner-beneficiary farmers in Barangays Dilawa, Sikitan, Luz Villa, and Sta. Fe (all from the municipality of Piñan) in Zamboanga del Norte on February 20, 2018.

Zamboanga del Norte has a Poverty Incidence (PI) rate of 41.1% (among families) based on the 2015 survey of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), thus making it among the priority provinces of the SAAD Program for 2017. Zamboanga del Norte’s economy depends mainly on agriculture with majority productions on coconut, rice, as well as corn.

The recently-distributed interventions included peanut seeds, Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) corn seeds, fertilizer, and a Heifer carabao for each partner-beneficiary farmer. Other project components included knapsack sprayers, plows, and harrows.

DA-SAAD is a brainchild project of DA Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol which aims to increase the income of poor farmers coming from the poorest provinces of the country, as part of the thrusts of President Rodrigo Duterte to increase food production and reduce poverty in the Philippines.

Writer: Ela Arciaga, PR & Communications Officer

Sources: https://www.facebook.com/roni.dusaban/posts/10155259311133344?comment_id=10155259316363344&notif_id=1519119894027697&notif_t=comment_mention&ref=notif | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamboanga_del_Norte | Table 1. Annual Per Capita Poverty Threshold, Poverty Incidence and Magnitude of Poor Families, by Region and Province – 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 | DA-SAAD RFO IX