BAGUIO CITY, January 6 to 10, 2020 – The Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) strengthened its partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), DA – Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), and GoNegosyo. Representatives from the said agencies and organizations attended the program’s FY 2019 Year-End Physical and Financial Assessment at the Venus Parkview Hotel.

The partners presented their organization backgrounds, activities, and practices to the SAAD national, regional, and provincial implementers. They also discussed their possible collaboration with the Program.

Assistant Director Dr. Rosana Mula of ATI presented the summary of activities, certified learning sites, and the operational Farmers Information and Technology Service (FITS) centers in the 30 provinces covered by SAAD. It has been agreed that ATI will be assisting SAAD in the facilitation of its social preparation and technical training for 2020 and beyond, thus all training activities will be coordinated with the ATI Regional Training Coordinators. National Program Management Office will prepare the guidelines on this collaboration.

GoNegosyo Agripreneurship programs were discussed by Jose Alvaro Severino Nito of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship. In September 2019, GoNegosyo renewed its partnership with the agency, wherein DA Secretary William D. Dar signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of agri-entrepreneurship programs. Nito shared that GoNegosyo will provide mentorship programs for enterprise development, market linkages, and assistance on digital marketing.

Leny Pecson of DA-AMAS shared their activities that would complement SAAD activities, such as the assessment of beneficiaries to identify business support service needs, the provision of entrepreneurial capability-building programs, market linkage, and upscaling of livelihood into enterprises through the Philippine Rural Development Project. Pecson also suggested registering SAAD’s beneficiaries to the Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Information System as each recipient is projected to become entrepreneurs in the future.

On the other hand, Mary Ann Guerrero of BPI briefed the SAAD implementers with the organization’s role in ensuring the availability of high-quality seeds and planting materials, among others provide training activities on nursery development as well as the protection of crops from pests and diseases. With this, BPI will always provide quality interventions to its SAAD beneficiaries. ###

Writer: Natalianne Delos Reyes, SAAD Public Relations and Communications Officer

Editor: Jhomai Canlas, SAAD Public Relations and Communications Head