TACLOBAN City - The newly crafted “One Eastern Visayas Food Security and Agricultural Development Plan” of An Waray Partylist Representative Florencio “Bem” Noel which envisions a food secure, vibrant, and resilient regional economy in Eastern Visayas was presented through an online consultative meeting.
It is a three-year program that aims to achieve three mutually related results -- increased production and productivity of the region’s food staples and selected cash crops to increase sufficiency indices, and contribute to achieving food security in Eastern Visayas; generate jobs from the construction of agricultural-infrastructure projects, production of crops and commodities, post-harvest handling and processing; and provide support to agricultural startups in product development, compliance with regulations, and link up to sources of raw materials, financing and market.
The consultative meeting was participated in by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, representatives of Senators Sonny Angara and Christopher Lawrence Go, Leyte Governor and Regional Development Council and Chair Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, and Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone.
Department of Agriculture-8 Regional Director Angel Enriquez, citing 2018 Philippine Statistics Authority Data, described Region 8 as the third poorest region in the country with 30.7 percent of its population living below the poverty threshold.
“But with the government’s unrelenting support through high impact agricultural programs, like the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD), the figure has significantly dropped from the 48 percent poverty incidence in 2015, yet continues to be significantly higher than the 22 percent poverty incidence of the entire country,” Enriquez said.
She added that with the synergy and continued collaboration and partnership, they could unleash and unlock the potentials of Region 8’s agri-fishery sector.
She said the plan is significant amid the uncertainty brought about by the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic which has halted the region’s improving poverty situation.
She also pointed out that the temporary or partial closure of businesses may lead to permanent closures if private domestic consumption will not improve.
DA secretary William Dar expressed his commitment to support the regional approach and even provincial efforts citing that the value chain system is now their basic strategy.
"It covers from production to processing, manufacturing, and marketing or what we call the farm-to-fork concept. We will look and see to it that the plan presented today will be translated into action, taking into consideration or capitalizing on the five basic strategies under the nationally-approved Food Security Development Framework. These are farm modernization, industrialization, farm consolidation, export promotion, and infrastructure development,” Dar said.
Cayetano also gave assurance that funds for agriculture will be doubled or will be provided with additional funds in the upcoming enactment of “Bayaninan to Heal as One Act Part 2.”
He added that since the region already has a comprehensive plan, it could then be aptly prioritized in terms of funding support.