TACLOBAN CITY, September 4, 2023 –  One hundred fourteen (114) farmers associations (FAs) under FY 2020 up to present of the Department of Agriculture Region 8 – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) program are targeted to receive further support in marketing and enterprise development in support of the egg production interventions. 

In order to assist, engage, and guide the SAAD Phase 1 FAs actively into larger agri-enterprises, the SAAD Eastern Visayas – Marketing and Enterprise Development (MAED) unit will continuously coordinate with them to offer technical assistance.

In a meeting held on July 5, 2023, the DA-RFO 8  enrolled FAs that benefited in the egg production interventions from the SAAD Program since FY 2020 up to the present, to the Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2) program. 

In the region, a total of 114 farmer groups with 2,253 beneficiary members became beneficiaries of the egg layer production project since SAAD started to be implemented in 2020. Twenty (20) FAs from the province of Leyte were identified as recipients, five (5) in Southern Leyte, thirty-seven (37) in Western Samar, thirty-four (34) in Eastern Samar, and eighteen (18) in Northern Samar. 

A comprehensive evaluation will be conducted on the targeted FAs who were provided with egg layer production projects in order to ensure that the F2C2 strategy is included in the program, focusing on the sustainability of their projects, their associations’ internal core, their financial management, and the quality and quantity of products they produce.

F2C2 is a strategy implemented by the DA which focuses on grouping together crops, livestock, and fish producers within a community or adjacent communities. It aims to improve the lives of the farmers and fisherfolks by creating economies of scale, strengthening accessibility to the market, improving bargaining and marketing capability, attracting strategic investments, and improving overall agri-sector productivity. 

Regional Technical Director (RTD) for Operations Larry U. Sultan presided over the meeting which was participated by the the Agricultural Program Coordinating Officers (APCOs), technical and support staff from the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), F2C2 Secretariat, and the SAAD Regional and Provincial Project Management Support Offices (RPMSO and PPMSOs). 

During the meeting in the DA-RFO 8, Tacloban City, RTD Sultan encouraged the attendees to sustain the monitoring activities for both SAAD Phase 1 and 2 interventions, he said.

“Now, part of the monitoring activities is the identification of prospective FAs which have strong internal core and financial management. We want to have viable organizations in order to succeed in clustering and consolidation, then achieve the small brother – big brother’ concept,” he said. 

The meeting also tackled the plan to conduct forecasting activities to identify the possible supplies of eggs coming from SAAD beneficiaries in the upcoming years. However, considering that forecasting the supply would need the concrete number of actual existing head of layer chickens, the data is still yet to be updated before any actions will be made. The action plan of each province in support of this F2C2 strategy was also discussed. 

In addition, training is set to be conducted for the chosen farmer beneficiaries to make them well versed on clustering and consolidation. Through this, the SAAD Program will be able to link these farmer groups with other FAs under the same strategy. 

RTD Sultan also highlighted that good relations among the Local Government Units (LGUs) and SAAD can help in the program implementation for they can supplement the DA-SAAD in monitoring and guiding the farmer associations, especially during their production phase.

This initiative of interlinking the SAAD Program’s egg layer projects farmer beneficiaries with the F2C2 strategy is only a step toward incorporating other beneficiaries bearing different commodities covered by the program. 

Moving forward, an orientation on F2C2 is set to be conducted for the DA-SAAD team and other partners to be well-informed about the strategy.  ### 

Writer: Justine May A. Delloro, DA-SAAD Eastern Visayas, Region   Information Officer

Source: Bethzaida Genesis F. Girang, DA-SAAD Eastern Visayas OPBME-MAED