The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Wednesday launched its Kadiwa ng Pangulo program in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, with several farmer groups from different towns and cities taking part in the activity.
Engineer Helen Lacpao, NIA-Negros Oriental Satellite Office head, urged the public to support local products and local farmers to improve their living conditions.
“The Kadiwa is a strategy where our farmers can directly sell their produce to consumers at lower prices in the absence of middlemen hence, this is a big help to them, especially for our irrigators’ associations,” Lacpao said in mixed English and Cebuano.
It is the first Kadiwa activity initiated by NIA with Sidlakang Negros Federation of Irrigators Associations, Inc. (SINEFIA) in the province.
Engineer Maria Donesa Autida, acting NIA-Region 7 Operations Acting Section chief, said farmers are encouraged to plant more as they have a new platform where they could sell their produce directly to the consumers.
Autida said the NIA Region 7 has already launched the Kadiwa in Bohol and Cebu recently and will also be doing the same in Siquijor on Dec. 1 and 2.
“We are supporting the Kadiwa not because of the marching orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. but because we see the value of the program and how this can help not just the farmers but the community as well,” she said.
Farmers and irrigators from Bayawan City, Sta. Catalina, Siaton, Zamboanguita, Sibulan, Valencia, Tanjay City, Pamplona, Ayungon, Tayasan, Mabinay, Bais City, Canlaon City, Guihulngan City, La Libertad and Dauin took part in the Kadiwa sa NIA, selling their produce and products at the NIA-Sibulan compound.
SINEFIA chairman Nilo Lauron was thankful over the positive response of the farmers in taking part in the activity, adding that they hoped for better collaboration with different farmers’ and irrigators’ associations in the towns and cities.
After the launching, Lauron said they would map out plans to sustain the Kadiwa at NIA on a regular basis to boost the farmers’ livelihood. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
