This is a proud moment for me as a rural development advocate that the SAAD Program which I designed way back when I was Governor of North Cotabato is now acknowledged as an effective poverty alleviation program.
SAAD stands for Special Area for Agricultural Development which identified rural “sink holes” marked by high poverty incidence which were given focus and additional interventions.
When I became Secretary of Agriculture, I introduced SAAD as a program of the DA which identified 10 Poorest Provinces every year which were given additional livelihood interventions.
My original proposal was to fund P1-B worth of projects for each of the 10 provinces every year.
This would have covered 60 Provinces by the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The program was only given P100-M per province but it nevertheless posted dramatic effects in reducing poverty through Agricultural Production and capability building.
Even before the end of the 6-Year Term of President Duterte, both the NEDA and PSA credited SAAD for the reduction of poverty rates in all of the provinces where it was introduced.
Today, I wear the smile of a proud father seeing that my Baby, SAAD, the Rural Development Concept which was first implemented in the towns of Magpet, Antipas and Arakan, is now a successful national program which capacitates and empowers poor communities.
It is not a perfect program and it surely needs fine-tuning.
But certainly, SAAD as a poverty alleviation program is way better than the dole-outs and cash aids.
SAAD lifts up people from poverty by helping them to be productive while maintaining their dignity as human beings.
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