MANILA, July 22 (PNA) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Wednesday that a total of 959 families from Regions 4-A, 5, 6, 9 and 11 were trained under the DSWD-SMFI (SM Foundation Inc.) tie-up project on organic farming.
From the total number, 150 grantees from Tagum City, Davao del Norte were the latest beneficiaries of the joint project.
According to DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman, the beneficiaries were among those who are benefiting from DSWD’s continuing effort to engage the private sector in improving the lives of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) through the conduct skills of training for the beneficiaries.
“Through that partnership of DSWD with private sectors, the beneficiaries were trained on high-value crop production as well as on organic farming which earn from and provide them fresh produce for their families” said Secretary Soliman.
The training was facilitated by Harbest Agribusiness Corporation.
The beneficiaries were provided with lectures and hands-on sessions on nursery preparation, seed sowing, land preparation, caring and nursing of seedling, pruning, trellis preparation, fruit selection and fruit thinning, pest and disease control, irrigation and drainage, and post-harvest technology.
Also integrated in the training course was an orientation on the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) focused on Community-Driven Enterprise Development which covers self-awareness, time management, financial literacy, product management, participatory livelihood issue analysis, and value chain analysis.
In addition to that, DSWD and the Department of Agriculture (DA) also taught the participants about cost analysis and return of investment analysis.
Just a week ago, at SMFI’s “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmer’s Training Program,” DSWD, SMFI, Harbest, the provincial government of Davao del Norte, and DA witnessed the beneficiaries’ planting activity at a demonstration farm in Barangay Madaum in Tagum City.
There the beneficiaries applied the farming techniques they learned from the training. The participants planted vegetables and fruits like cucumber, tomato, squash, ampalaya, bell pepper, honeydew, and gourd.
Earlier, some 154 survivors of Typhoon Pablo from Monkayo also underwent the same training and they are now maintaining their organic farm in Barangay Olaycon while some have also ventured in cultivating their own backyard garden.
The DSWD chief added that they are engaging the participation of the private sector and civil society organizations in program implementation to ensure transparency.
“This will give our partners the chance to also observe how we implement programs to enable them to further understand and appreciate how the government works,” she added.
To date, 1,081 CSOs have committed to work with DSWD to assist Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries have access to income generating opportunities. In Davao Region alone, 36 CSOs have partnered with DSWD-Field Office 11. (PNA)