DA RFU 13 Grand Champion on Butuan Balangay Festival Silver Year

One of the spectacular actions during the presentation in Libertad Sports Complex, Butuan City. (Note: the guy in a formal attire is your blogger himself, dramatizing as  Mayor Amante)

Yes, we’ve made it again!

For the second time around, the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 13 proved its worth not just in curbing hunger but also in the field of cultural dance competition.

This after DA Caraga emerged once more as grand champion during the Balangay Theater Float Parade and Competition held last May 19, 2012 as one of the highlights of the Balangay 
Festival Silver Year Celebration here in Butuan City.

Despite of the scorching heat of the sun, DA dancers gracefully and lively danced to the ethnic tune of the gong and other indigenous musical instruments to the amazement of the crowd.

The activity started with the float parade participated by different government agencies as well as private companies commencing from Montilla  Boulevard plying through J.C. Aquino Avenue.

All walks of life, filled along the streets especially along Gaisano Mall where participating agencies do their initial cultural showdown. 

But most of the spectators were jam packed at the Libertad Spots Complex where the final cultural presentation took place.
 

Six competing agencies vie for the award.

After the thorough evaluation of the judges, participating agencies were eagerly waited for the announcement of the winners.
    

As the announcement of winners came, every tick of the second adds thrill. On top of her voice, the lady master of ceremony uttered the Department of Agriculture Caraga Regional Office as the grand champion.

The whole sports complex was filled with great joy, more so with the DA dancers themselves who painstakingly do their part in making the presentation in a superb level.

DA RFU 13 bagged two awards. The Most Colorful and Attractive Float with a corresponding cash prize of P25,000.00 and the Best on Cultural Presentation with a cash prize of P 125,000.00.

OIC Regional Executive Director Edna Mabeza, Regional Technical Director (RTD) and Admin and Finance Chief Jessica Daan cheerfully received the award and trophy handed over by the organizers headed by Butuan City Mayor Ferdinand Amante, Jr.

Other winner on float category includes Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) who grabbed the Most Unique Float and Cultural Revival International who bagged the Most Dramatic Float.

Meanwhile on the cultural presentation, Cultural Revival got the third prize and the second prize was bagged by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Non winners received consolation prizes. (Aurell P. Arais/ RAFID DA CARAGA)

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DA’s Asec Delima to Farmers: “Maging Paki-alamiro”

DA Assistant Secretary Dante S. Delima (insert on upper left) 

addresses during the national convention of P4MP urging 

the participants to be vigilant for good governance.

Maki-alam ! (Be involved).

This urged Assistant Secretrary Dante Delima to the participants of the Pambansang Mannalon, Mag-uuma, Magbabaul, Magsasaka ng Pilipinas (P4MP) National Convention held just recently here in city of Butuan.

Delima who was the guest of honor said that farmer leaders should continuously take part of the programs of the government.

“Kailangan ninyong patuloy na makialam sa mga programa at proyekto ng ating department. Kailangan ninyong gawin ‘yan.” (You should continuously take part on the programs and projects of our department. It is a must to do”  Delima said.

He said that the department needs people who are vigilant to wake those employees who are not performing their duties well.

“Dahil kung hindi kayo maki-alam walang gigising sa mga nakatulog na mga tauhan sa Department of Agriculture. Kailaingan namin kayo, kalingan namin ang inyong paki-alam” (If you will not take part nobody would wake DA’s staff who are sleeping. We need you, we badly need your vigilance”, he said.

Delima urged to more or less 200 farmer leaders who attended the nationwide convention to practice the so called claim-making process.  He elaborated that people should claim on what is due to them.

“Ang budget para sa pamahalaan lalo na sa Department of Agriculture para sa mga magsakaka, ay kung para sa mga magsasaka, ‘yan kailangan natin itong i-claim” (The government budget particularly of DA is for the farmers, so if it is due for the farmers, we must have to claim it), said Delima.

Moreover Delima said that if the government has hard times in answering all needs of the people,”tulungan na lang natin ang pamahalaan, sana magkaisa tayo  d’yan” (let’s help our government, let’s have unity).

Delima also said that people should not wait for the government to do something for them for their future but people should also take their move.

“We should be practical; we need to help the government” he said.

He said that farmer associations just like P4MP have a big role in helping the government to serve the public candidly.

He stressed that having conventions or forums or various available technologies is not enough to answer the need of the people. 

“Ang kailangan ay pagbabago at reporma. Ang kailangan ay bagong enerhiya at disiplina” (What we need is change and reform. What we need is new vigor and discipline), he said.

Delima who is the AgriPinoy National Rice Program Coordinator said that the ultimate goal nowadays is not only to attain rice sufficiency and other food staples but the livelihood security of the agricultural sector.

P4MP or Pambansang Mannalon, Mag-uuma, Magbabaul at Magsasaka ng Pilipinas is a national federation aimed to institutionalize and strengthen the village level organization of farmers and fisherfolks. (Aurell P. Arais/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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DA-DepEd Intensify Gulayan sa Paaralan Program

GPP Organic Vegetable Training held in DepEd Provincial Training Center, Surigao City

Surigao City – Seeing teachers confined in the four corner of the classroom is now a scenario in the past as nowadays we may have seen them teaching how to plant vegetables in the garden.

Both the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Education (DepEd) believed that teaching farming should start from early part of a person’s life, thus the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program was conceptualized.

In Surigao del Norte, around 40 teachers eagerly took part on the Gulayan sa Paaralan Program (GPP) Organic Vegetables Production Training held recently in DepEd Provincial Office in Surigao City.

Participants were coming from different schools under the Divisions of Surigao del Norte and Province of Dinagat Islands.

Agriculturist Benjamin Dalaguan of the Crops Division of DA Regional Field Office 13 said that the training is specially designed to make the teachers fully equipped with the right technology in teaching school gardening in an organic way.

“We purposely focus the training in Organic Vegetable Production so that pupils will be taught how to raise health foods and they themselves could somehow influence their parents and eventually to the community,” Dalaguan said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Evelyn Fetalvero, School Division Superintendent of Surigao del Norte also expressed her deepest gratitude to the Department of Agriculture in considering the teachers to take part on the noble project to mold the young mind of elementary pupils towards loving agriculture.

“We are always behind you. Let us propagate organic farming right from our own home, right from our own school,” she said.

Similar training had also been conducted in other provinces in Caraga Region.

Gulayan sa Paaralan is one of the strategy under the AgriPinoy emphasizing the importance of fostering partnerships and collaborative undertakings through sustainable agriculture.(Aurell P. Arais/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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Help Make Caraga an Organic Region --- DA RFU 13 RED Mabeza

Surigao City - “Let’s help make Caraga an organic region”.

This was an appeal from Regional Executive Director Edna M. Mabeza of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 13 during the Organic Agriculture Year-end Assessment held in Mount Bagarabon, Mabua, Surigao City last December 9-10, 2011.

Mabeza said that organic agriculture should be given utmost priority as a centerpiece project of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to attain not just sufficiency in food but healthy as well.

She said that all stakeholders should be hand in hand in pushing for organic farming based on Private-Public-Partnership (PPP).

She stressed that local government units, the Department of Agriculture, non government organizations as well as the religious sector are equally important in pushing organic agriculture in the country.

“We have the same goals which is to uplift our living conditions, so we should have go hand in hand on this endeavor”, Mabeza said.

She also commended the effort of all staff engaged in organic program having attaining the unparalled  success despite of implementing it in the region for less that five months ago.

It was learned that as of December 2011, Regional Organic Agriculture Focal Person Rebecca Atega had received and acted upon around 105 proposals from LGUs and non government organizations.

Mabeza said that battlecry of the department of agriculture is not just to increase production but also the income of the farmers. (Aurell P. Arais/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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CBMEG Helps Ensure DA-MRDP Projects Sustainable

by: Aurell P. Arais

“Monitoring is vital for the sustainability of a project.”

Thus said Mayor Leo Navarro of Marihatag, Surigao del Sur during the Community Based Monitoring and Evaluation Group Training of the Department of Agriculture -Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) held in the said town last January 11-12, 2012.

He said that in the past numerous projects from the government, after it has been transferred to the recipients just die down due to different contributing factors.

“Daghan mga proyekto nga dili mulahutay, lain-lain ang mga rason pero kung atong iksamenon ug maayo, kulang sa monitoring ang nag-unang rason” (Various projects will not sustain due to different reasons but if we look it closer, lack of monitoring is the very first reason), he said in vernacular.

Navarro lauded MRDP in coming up a scheme that the monitoring and evaluation has been given a priority and vowed to support its activities for the betterment of its constituents.

To ensure sustainability, the Natural Resource Management; Monitoring and Evaluation and Info-Ace components of MRDP from Program Support Office based in Davao City and Regional Program Coordinating Office (RPCO) based in the Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture in Butuan City jointly conducted the CBMEG training.

Participants of the training were chairmen and members of different peoples’ organizations and their respective barangay officials and counterparts from Marihatag LGU.

CBMEG is a body to be created through a barangay ordinance and has a tasked to monitor and evaluate MRDP projects within its community and submit monitoring and evaluation reports to the municipal level for proper action if deemed necessary in case of eventualities on the projects.

Marihatag is a recipient of Global Equity Fund (GEF) with particular subprojects called On the Ground Investments (OGI) such as river bank stabilization, agroforestry and its livelihood component called Sustainable Income Generating Activities (SIGA). It is also a recipient of Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD) and Rural Infrastructure (RI).

RPCO focal person Eliseo Tila revealed that Marihatag is one of most active MRDP LGU enrolled in terms of project implementation performance. (Aurell P. Arais/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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DA’s Secretary Alcala Pours Multi-Million Aggie Projects in Caraga

 One of the visit of Secretary Alcala in Caraga Region particularly in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte as guest of honor during the farmer’s forum.

Butuan City – Around 35 million worth of various farm inputs and implements had been turned-over by no less than Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala during his regional engagement here in Caraga Region for the whole year of 2011 to boost production in the region.

Recipients of such inputs and implements were the five provinces of Caraga Region: Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur and Agusan del Norte and including the cities of Cabadbaran, Surigao, Bayugan, Tandag, Bislig and Butuan.

Inputs and implements includes farm tractors, green houses, irrigation equipments, power sprayers, small ruminants, planting materials, coffee de-huller, fingerlings and fishing paraphernalia, fertilizers and more.

Also includes funding support to farm to market roads, diversion dam, potable water system, various livelihood projects under Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), counterpart for establishment of liquid nitrogen plant and computer with accessories.  

Aside from projects already turned-over, some supports were programmed for 2012 and 2013.

The said farm inputs and implements were handed over by Secretary Alcala to the respective LGU chief executives during the farmers’ forum  last  January 20-21, 2011 in Patin-ay, Agusan del Sur;  Surigao City, Remedios T. Romualdez, Agusan del Norte and Agriculture and Fisheries Council Congress (AFC) here in Butuan City.

Alcala during his early part of leadership as agriculture secretary devoted his time to visit all regions in the country and Caraga became one of his favorite destinations to reach out farmers as well as local government officials. (Aurell P. Arais/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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Attainment of Country’s Food Sufficiency Level Top Priority of Current Food Czar

Attaining food sufficiency level in the country within his stewardship as agriculture secretary is the greatest accomplishment that Secretary Proceso J. Alcala is dreaming of.

This he revealed during the news conference with the local media in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur during his visit in Caraga Region recently.

“Ang pinakamalaki pong significant na program ay talaga pong if we reach the self sufficiency level, ito ay napakalaki pong accomplishment”, thus he said.

According to him he considered attaining food sufficiency as the biggest accomplishment not just for himself but for the whole country as well.

He said that for the long period of time, Philippines have not been sufficient in rice. 

Historically, on later part of 1970’s Philippines had been sufficient in rice during the leadership of former Secretary Arturo Tanco, Jr. through the Masagana 99 rice production program and even went into exporting rice. 

A similar program on corn also made the country self-sufficient in white corn.

In 1990 during the time of Secretary Senen Bacani, he implemented the Rice Action Program (RAP) and Corn Production Enhancement Program (CPEP) enabling the Philippines to once again export rice in 1992 and attained self-sufficiency in corn, respectively.

However, Alcala said those achievements were not sustained.     

“Kaya ngayon naging maingat tayo na if we will reach self-sufficiency ng ating palay production ito po’y hindi na aatras kundi ito’y tuloy-tuloy (That is why nowadays,if we will reach self-sufficiency of our rice production it will not detour but will head on), he said.

Alcala further said that currently they are making plans and projections on how to export excess rice after 2013.

In recognizing the potential of the province of Surigao del Sur to contribute to the attainment of sufficiency target, Secretary Alcala suggested to come up a master development plan for the whole province on agricultural sector that would focus on what commodities could be aggressively pushed.

Moreover, he said the agriculture department would push for the modernization of farm equipments not only on irrigation but for other necessary farm implements.

He also urged farmers and irrigators association to strengthen since government assistance would be coursed through them to make them more empowered.

As he stated, organized and strong farmers and irrigators association could be assisted through the provision of mechanical dryers and rice mill.

He also urged agriculture stakeholders to include idle lands and marine resources in boosting food production so as to contribute more to the attainment of food sufficiency not just on rice but also  other staple foods for the Filipinos. (AURELL P. ARAIS/RAFID DA CARAGA)

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