ILOILO City – Twenty-five beneficiaries of Leon Confed Farmer Daily Association (LECOFADA) and Calinog Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (CAFAGRICOOP), all in Iloilo received buffaloes, livelihood seed capital fund, and technical assistance for the pilot project of Kabuhayan Gatasang Kalabaw during the Ceremonial Turn-Over last month.

This is through the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) program where the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is among the lead agencies in implementing this convergence effort under the Program Convergence Budget (PCB).

Other partner national agencies are the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Carabao Center (DA-PCC), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM).

As a convergence effort, the DA-PCC had provided 25 buffaloes while the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) released a total of PHP375,000 or PHP15,000 each to the same beneficiaries as their seed capital fund. Meanwhile, the DTI will be furnishing the group with an upgraded Shared Service Facility while POPCOM will be extending their Family Planning services to all the participants as a strategic measure to mitigate hunger and poverty towards food security.

Only three regions including Region VI were chosen to implement the pilot project which aims to increase milk production while the Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) should work towards being a service provider to institutional feeding programs of the government.

The approval of the Amended Section 53.12 of Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9184 and the Guidelines for the Conduct of Community Participation in Procurement will enable the direct purchase of government agencies and LGU from local Farmers and local Fisherfolks thereby assuring them of a market and sustainability.

Present during the turn-over ceremony were PCC Center Director Arn D. Granada and Development Coordinator Janice Cuaresma, DSWD-EPAHP Regional Program Coordinator Narlaine P. Gajisan; SLP Provincial Coordinator Anthony Laruan and Regional Special Projects Focal Jazer P. Miranda; DTI Provincial Director Judith P. Degala, Business Consultant RL Marco and Local Government Units of Bingawan, Lambunao, Calinog, and Leon./mgc//Photo and written by: EPAHP Operations Monitoting Officer Hannah Grace R. Chua

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