QUEZON CITY, Nov. 8 (PIA) - Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Caballero highlighted two important programs -- focused on capacity building and competency enhancement -- for cooperatives as one of the top priorities to help poor farmers, in the recent "Dagyaw: Open Government Virtual Town Hall Meeting.
First, the DA, together with the Cooperative Development Authority, strongly pushes for the 'grouping' of these farmers' organizations so that the government can provide more services to them despite limited resources.
"So in terms of farm and fisheries clustering and consolidation, meron po tayong pondo dyan under Bayanihan 2, para po isakatuparan natin yung programang Bayan-Agri... so it is basically a combination of Bayanihan sa agrikultura," she said.
Second, the DA is also going to engage the participation of the youth in 'professionalizing' the services of cooperatives by providing a 6-month on-the-job training program," she added, "These youth, aged 22-30... the department can accept them as parang 'management trainees' that will be deployed in cooperatives to help in the capacity-building mechanism... working together sa ating mga government offices that are engaged in regulatory activities."
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary William Dar thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for recently signing Republic Act No. 11494 or Bayanihan 2 -- passed by Congress last August and signed into law on September 11 extending President Duterte’s emergency authority to assign pre-allocated funds in the 2020 General Appropriations Act and divert these for programs to assist sectors hit by the pandemic -- that earmarks an additional fund of P24 billion for the DA to bankroll several initiatives to help perk up the national economy. (MCG/PIA-IDPD/DA)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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