Piñol’s Special Area for Agricultural Development

The Department of Agriculture (DA) have new policy directions under the leadership of Secretary Emmanuel Piñol. The department will not only focus on food production but includes poverty alleviation, following the strategy of President Duterte targeting the establishment of livelihood programs for the poorest of the poor.

The DA will address these concerns under the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program. SAAD, is a comprehensive program focusing on the ten priority provinces of the country, assessing the weaknesses and all possible potentials in food production. According to Secretary Piñol, a SAAD Project Management Team (PMT) will be organized in coordination with Local Government Units (LGUs) of the priority provinces. “It will be composed of technical people both from the DA and the province. Together they will identify problems confronting the area and find solutions to address them,” he explained. The DA and other agencies would provide necessary funding support, focusing on livelihood programs “proven to be sure-fire formula in addressing poverty,” he added.

The 10 provinces tagged with the highest poverty incidence per household were identified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in its Poverty Statistics which was published December 2013. The list includes Lanao del Sur (67.3%), Eastern Samar (55.4%), Apayao (54.7%), Maguindanao (54.5%), Zamboanga del Norte (48%), Sarangani (46%), North Cotabato (44.8%), Negros Oriental (43.9%), and Northern and Western Samar (both with 43.5%).

Piñol however emphasized that the strategy will only work depending on the maturity of political leaders in the area, noting that most of those leaders belong to parties that did not support Rodrigo Duterte during the campaign. “I hope they set aside political differences and cooperate because if not, president Duterte will always find a way to reach out to the poorest Filipinos to lift them out of the sad state they are in right now,” he said. ●