True to the essence of the DA’s newest program Special Area for Agricultural Development or SAAD, which is a Visayan word meaning “promise”, the promised  interventions to the beneficiaries in Bicol were recently distributed at the beneficiaries’ doorsteps.

In the province of Catanduanes,  a total of 286 beneficiaries from the most marginalized sector of the towns of Bagamanoc, Baras, Bato, Gigmoto, Panganiban, and San Miguel received various interventions. After the completion of series of trainings on Upland Rice Production,  some 70 upland dwellers received rice seeds at one sacks each along with complete fertilizer. The pre-selected beneficiaries are cultivating an average landholdings of one hectare.  Also in Catanduanes,  56 groups received packets of vegetable seeds which include okra, pechay, bush and pole sitao  and ampalaya.

Meanwhile, in Masbate, a total of 2,300 bags of upland rice, 1,270 bags of complete fertilizers and 430 bags corn seeds  were distributed to the pre-selected beneficiaries from the municipalities of Esperanza, Balud, Pio V Corpus and Mandaon.

In the province of Sorsogon, 550 bags of upland rice seeds were distributed to the beneficiaries in the municipalities of Donsol (75 beneficiairies), Pilar (187 beneficiaires), Magallanes (51 beneficiaries), Juban (93 beneficiairies), Sta. Magdalena (70 beneficiaries) and Matnog (74 beneficiaries).

Earlier, the SAAD area coordinators in the three provinces conducted a house-to-house interview of the beneficiaries to assess their needs and available resources as well as identify the potential areas where the project can have the greatest impact.

Having identified the needs and available resources of the beneficiaries,  a number of trainings on upland rice and vegetable production and have been conducted in coordination with the DA RFO 5 banner programs to prepare the mindset of the beneficiaries and equip them with the necessary skills to sustain the project. (Lovella P. Guarin)