The province of Negros Oriental is beneficiary to a program designed to reduce poverty in the agricultural sector with P66 million funding ready for implementation this year.
Regional technical director for operations of the Department of Agriculture in Region 18 Alejandro Rafal said Wednesday the province has been identified as one of the top ten provinces all over the country that has a poverty index of 43.9 percent, with Lanao del Sur as the highest with 67.3 percent following the survey conducted from 2006 to 2012.
The other provinces are Eastern, Northern and Western Samar, Apayao, Maguindanao, Zamboanga del Norte, Sarangani and North Cotabato.
An orientation and finalization of project proposals was conducted Wednesday among local government units all over the province under the Special Area for Agricultural Development otherwise known as the SAAD program, one of the banner programs of the department headed by Agriculture Sec. Manny Piñol.
Attending today’s activity are municipal mayors, and their respective agricultural officers so short livelihood projects can immediately implemented this year to address poverty incidence in the province.
Rafal said project proposals included corn production, mango production, cattle fattening, livestock-raising and other livelihood projects.
Beneficiaries can be family-based, individuals, farmer associations or other national government associations.
The P66 million funding will only be for implementation this year because next year will be another set of funding, Rafal pointed out. (PNA/jfp/Juanco Gallarde)
