The Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga is currently stepping up its effort in delivering planting materials to different Odette stricken-local government units in Caraga Region.

Marco Antonio Morido, Regional Coordinator of the High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) said that this is to aid the local farmers who were severely affected by the typhoon last December 2021.

“This is one way of giving our farmers hope to revive from the impact of typhoon Odette, and the government is always ready to help them out,” Morido added.

The region utilized the P31,123,930 budget for rehabilitation assistance under the 2022 Quick Response Fund (QRF) to procure planting materials and farm supplies such as cacao, lowland vegetable seeds, banana lakatan, banana-cardava, complete fertilizer, seedling tray, farm tools, and knapsacks sprayer.

A total of 490,231 bags and pieces of various planting materials and farm supplies were procured, wherein 37,777 were allocated to Agusan del Norte, 77,772 for Agusan Del Sur, 38,317 for Surigao del Sur, 269,511 for Surigao del Norte, and 123,040 for the Province of Dinagat Islands.

Morido clarified that as agreed, the LGU will identify the most affected farmers in their area as a priority in distributing the assistance.

“We are grateful to the LGUs for assisting us with this intervention and we are hopeful that it will translate to helping farmers bounce back from the ravage of the typhoon in the region,” he said.

Sandra Desoloc, Agriculturist II of the City Agriculture Office of Surigao was happy with DA’s effort in reaching out to their farmers through the provisions of farm inputs.

“In behalf of the LGU of Surigao City, we are grateful to DA-RFO 13 thru the HVCDP for assisting our farmers through the provisions of banana lakatan planting materials. It is indeed a great help for them to recover after their farm was devastated by the typhoon,” she said.

Typhoon Odette affected 4,000 hectares of various high value crops with 12,301 farmers leaving a damage of P4.4 million based on the cost of production.

Aside from HVCDP, other banner programs of DA also extended interventions and services through agricultural recovery and rehabilitation programs.

It can be recalled that days after the Typhoon Odette hit Caraga region, DA-Caraga together with the support from DA-Mindanao cluster handed over immediate aid and support to the local farmers and fisherfolk in the region. (Aurelius P. Arais/Lovely Joy Saludez/DA-Caraga)