ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat – A leader of an Indigenous Peoples (IP) community here has expressed his community’s elation over the government’s P500,000 agricultural support for them through the Department of Agriculture (DA)
DA-Soccsksargen (DA-12) has provided the IPs with hybrid corn and certified rice seeds, fertilizers, rodenticides, seedlings of assorted fruit trees, organic fertilizer concoctions, open-pollinated varieties of vegetable seeds, food packs, milk products, and bio-control agents.
“We thank you for this program. You went out of your way to reach us here in the upland community,” Manobo tribal leader Babing Dondoy told reporters in Barangay Laguilayan here on Friday.
“These projects are of great help to us, I thought we were already abandoned by the government,” he added.
With the vision of empowering IPs through agricultural initiatives, the DA launched in this town Friday the Sustainable Extension Activities: Outreach Program for the IP Communities in Region 12.
DA-12 officer-in-charge Sailila Abdula led the outreach program and distributed inputs for the IP farmers.
A tree-planting activity and ceremonial milk toasting were also held during the program to help mitigate the impact of climate change and combat malnutrition among children in the community. (PNA)