Leaders of farmers and fishermen’s groups, people’s organizations, development planners, agriculturists, engineers and local officials of the newly-formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will gather in Davao City on July 11 and 12 to craft the first ever Agriculture and Fisheries Master Plan for the region.
The Department of Agriculture will facilitate the activity which will involve about 300 participants including those coming from the distant and isolated islands of the region.
With the technical and administrative assistance from the DA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), the stakeholders will identify the interventions needed to improve the lives of people in the country’s poorest region.
During the pre-planning meeting between the DA and MAFAR on July 3 in Gen. Santos City, it was agreed that the focus of the Master Plan would be to:
– Increase agriculture and fisheries productivity in the region endowed with fertile soil and rich fishing grounds;
– Identify critical infrastructure services like rural roads and fish ports to hasten economic growth;
– Address chronic poverty and bring down the poverty level in the region where one of the provinces, Lanao del Sur, has a poverty incidence of 70%;
– Facilitate the titling of lands to end conflicts which caused many “rido” or clan wars;
– Establish a food security plan which would make the region self-reliant thus ensuring available and affordable food.
Right after the completion of the Master Plan, the draft will be presented to BARMM Chief Minister Al Haj Ahod Murad Ebrahim.
The DA, for its part, will submit another copy to President Rody Duterte before he delivers the State of the Nation Address on July 22.
The Master Plan for Agriculture and Fisheries will be the first ever to be crafted for the Bangsamoro region whose development was stunted by decades of conflict and bloodshed.
(Photos by Alan Jay Jacalan and Lito Degorio, DA AFID)
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