The task of transforming Lanao del Sur, the country’s poorest province with a poverty incidence of 74.3%, into a major food production area has started.
Yesterday, the Special Areas for Agriculture Development (SAAD) was officially launched with the first consultation forum with local leaders and stakeholders in the Mindanao State University (MSU) compound in Marawi City.
A group of young Muslim and Christian professionals who compose the core group of the SAAD team met with about three of the 15 mayors of the province to lay out the development map of Lanao del Sur based on the needs and desires of the people.
The SAAD program, which I started when I was Governor of North Cotabato from 1998 to 2007, focuses on identifying the potentials and strengths of a group of communities and involving the people in developing these assets to address massive poverty.
It mainly concentrates on livelihood programs using the bounties of the communities.
The SAAD program was largely successful in North Cotabato as it was able to contribute to the reduction of the poverty incidence from 52.6% in 1998 to only 29% when I left office in 2007.
Abandoned by the succeeding leadership, poverty incidence in North Cotabato has once again surged to over 40% in recent years.
For Lanao del Sur, the SAAD program hopes to capitalize on the natural wealth of the province, including fertile agricultural lands, rich fishing grounds in at least six towns facing the Moro Gulf, the 35,000-hectare Lake Lanao which supplies the water running the Agus Hydro Electric Power System and at least four other waterfalls which the communities could develop to generate power which could earn tremendous revenues for the local government units.
Ground Zero for the SAAD program is the town of Butig, the symbolic capital of Maranaw civilization which is also being claimed by the exrtremist groups like Maute, Abu Sayyaf and ISIS as the capital of the Islamic Caliphate in the Southern Philippines.
With an initial seed fund of P64-million for 2017, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) will undertake a closely supervised program to develop agriculture and fisheries in Lanao del Sur.
For Lake Lanao, for example, I have asked the Fisheries Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona to prepare a plan to seed the lake with millions of Tilapia and possibly Bangus fingerlings and distribute fishing boats to poor families living around the lake.
I have always believed that the first step in addressing poverty is make sure that food is available to the people.
For the wide ricefields and corn fields in the province, the SAAD program will provide tractors, planters, harvesters and post harvest facilities.
Corporate partners like Kapatid Go Negosyo have already expressed willingness to participate in the program especially in the marketing of the products from Lanao del Sur.
Next week, at 10 farmer leaders and several agriculture technicians from Butig town will travel to Munoz, Nueva Ecija to learn modern rice farming technology in the PhilRice Center which is headed by a Maguindanao rice breeder, Dr. Sailila Abdulla.
Judging from the poor attendance of local counterparts in yesterday’s SAAD forum in Marawi City, the task to transform Lanao del Sur into a progressive agriculture and fisheries producing province is not expected to be smooth and easy.
But I believe with perseverance and determination, we will finally change the lives of the Maranaos and make the province once of the most progressive in the country.
People have always asked me why I am so daring in implementing ambitious programs like the one we are doing in Lanao del Sur now.
My stock answer has always been:
“The future belongs to the brave and the daring!”
(First two photos show the fertile lands of Butig and the vast Lake Lanao. Other photos show the SAAD orientation forum in Marawi City yesterday and the young Muslim and Christian professionals involved in the program.)
More Stories
Cotabato Eyes Huge ‘Halal’ Meat Demand
‘DV Savellano’ Model Bamboo Goat House
Practical Farming: Turn Used Plastic Containers Into Life-Time Laying Nests!