ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE – In a meeting at Top Plaza Hotel in Dipolog City from 26-28 of June 2019, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Commission on Population (PopCom) harmonized their interventions to provide Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning (RPFP) information and services to the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) farmer-partners in Zamboanga del Norte.

According to the Department of Health’s PopCom, the RPFP will serve as a venue for family planning demand generation.

In 2015, the majority of the RPFP classes were conducted in support of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

PopCom and SAAD have the mutual desire to alleviate the poverty of the farmers and fishermen that is why the former is now opening its services to the poorest sectors of the country.

With this common goal, DA Region IX OIC-Regional Executive Director Dennis H. Palabrica and PopCom Region IX Regional Director Reynaldo O. Wong signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 26, 2019 to make the collaboration of the two government agencies official.

One of the agreements in the MOU is to strengthen the engagement of farming and fishery sector in the provision of Responsible Parenthood, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health training, seminars, workshops and services to the farmer-partners of DA-SAAD in Zamboanga del Norte.

DA Assistant Secretary for Special Projects Lerey A. Panes witnessed the ratification of the MOU. ###

 

Writer: Roger Dave Gramatica, SAAD Zamboanga del Norte Area Coordinator

Editor: Jhomai Canlas, SAAD PR & Communications Officer