Saad  in Cebuano means promise. Department of Agriculture (DA) gears up toward the realization of its promise to provide available and affordable food for the people through Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD).

SAAD is a locally-funded program of the government that aims to help alleviate poverty in the poorest provinces of the country through the provision of agricultural and related interventions to the marginalized in the farming and fisheries sector.

Since its inception last 2017, there were 20 provinces that were given assistance from the different regions in the country. Each year the DA-SAAD National Program Management Office will prioritize 10 provinces until 2022.

This year, DA–Caragais now preparing for the implementation of the SAAD Program in 2019. One of the steps undertaken is the orientation and consultation with the Local Government Units who will be the beneficiaries of the program.

In the region, the provinces of Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur are among the pilot areas for the program. Each province has 4 municipalities where the beneficiaries will be identified. For the province of Agusan del Sur the municipalities of Talacogon, Rosario, San Luis and Veruela are among to be assisted.  The municipalities of Bayabas, Carmen, Lingig and Bislig City of Surigao del Sur will also be reached out by the program.

Base on the 2015 report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Caraga region has a 30.8% poverty incidence among families in which the province of Agusan del Sur has 37% while Surigao del Sur has 32%.

According to PSA, poverty incidence is the proportion of families or individuals with per capita income less than the per capita poverty threshold to the total number of families or individuals. While poverty threshold is the minimum income required for a family or individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements.

 The selection of the beneficiaries are in the areas where the poorest of the poor generally resides. The far-flung areas of these municipalities will be prioritized especially for those parts where the absence of government services exists. SAAD is a program of DA to cater the marginalized sector, that will provide interventions in areas not reached by the regular DA programs”, said Regional Technical Director for Operations Alberto D. Ocampo, Jr.

The eligible beneficiaries of the program must be poor households or groups who earn below the poverty threshold per province, who would like to engage or already engaged in agriculture and fisheries. Preferably, must not be a recipient of similar interventions from DA in the last two years upon implementation.

“SAAD can cater individuals who are interested to venture into farming. Eventually, these individuals will be assisted by SAAD to organize themselves and formally register or be accredited by appropriate government authority, provided these group will undergo required training courses,” explained Planning Officer III Roberto Hipolao, Jr. during the consultation and workshop meeting with the identified local government units (LGUs).

DA-Caragais working with the provincial and municipal LGUs to help ensure the smooth implementation at the local level. Series of activities will be conducted for the multi-year planning for the SAAD Program implementation in the region.(Rhea C. Abao, DA Information Section)