Wednesday, July 18, 2007 P350M set aside to revive DA animal dispersal program
THE Department of Agriculture plans to revive animal dispersal in the country with a budget of P350 million, a ranking official said.
Abusama Alid, DA-Central Mindanao director, told reporters that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap wanted to restore the government's animal distribution program to improve the plight of farmers.
"This time, the animal distribution program would include small ruminants only such as goats and pigs," Alid said, adding the project will give small farmers additional sources of income aside from their agricultural crops.
He pointed out the agriculture department hopes to finish the animal dispersal program plan within the year for the project to gain ground.
Previously, the government's farm dispersal program includes large farm-working ruminants such carabaos and cattles.
But Alid said the dispersal program has ceased since the time of former Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, now a senator, since it failed to benefit downstream beneficiaries.
In concept, a farmer who benefit from the program should pass the offspring of the animal to another farmer, and so on.
Reports here said large animals in the previous program were allegedly butchered by beneficiaries during fiestas, reasoning later on that the animals were afflicted with disease.
Alid did not confirm nor deny the reports but he conceded that the "animal dispersal program then was not viable."
Animal dispersal in the country started more than 45 years ago, pioneered by former President Ramon Magsaysay.
A study in 2001 funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research dubbed "Assessment of the Livestock Dispersal Program of the Department of Agriculture" said the project is one of the most expensive initiatives of the Agriculture department.
The study focused on three livelihood dispersal programs (LDPs) of the most expensive commodity (cattle).
The three were the Multi-Livestock Development Loan Program, Barangay Livestock Breeding Loan Program and Dairy Cattle Dispersal.
The study indicated that the three programs "had no clear target number of beneficiaries and animals to be dispersed annually since 1994."
To complement the initiatives of the different livelihood dispersal programs, the study recommended that all LDP providers should come up with a set of unified implementation guidelines.
Among the recommendations included for the enhancement of the guidelines were:
* Financing scheme that may allow the government a return of investment of about 10 -15 percent ;
* LDP Success/Failure Medium Term Milestones, hinged on economic and social well-being of beneficiaries;
* LDP programs that enhances empowerment for rural poor and discourages dependency to government support;
* And sustainable government livelihood or economic assistance to the poor.
Another unified effort from the LDPs, this time in adopting an integrated set of socioeconomic indicators as basis for assessing all its initiatives, was likewise recommended by the study. (BSS)
