By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
THE NATIONAL Program for Sustainable Upland Farming Through Conservation Farming Villages (CFV) will be receiving P30.2 million from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Likewise, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), a sub-agency of the Department of Science and Technology, will provide a counterpart fund of P8.5 million.
The total amount will be used put up model CFVs, otherwise known as “Barangay Sagip-Saka” in selected land degradation hotspots in the country to enhance the transfer of conservation farming technologies and practices anchored on participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation processes at the community level.
PCARRD deputy executive director Danilo Cardenas said CFVs mark the beginning of a journey in the collective effort for the implementation for sustainable upland management and development.
Cardenas said the scientific community has been advocating measures to prevent the effects of natural catastrophes such as floods and landslides.
“We look forward to the time that sustainability of our natural resources will be achieved, where no erosions will occur, no landslides, and no flooding. This is the core motive of our project — to save the land and eventually improve the lives of millions,” Cardenas said.
The CFV project is included in the latest batch of funding recipients of NEDA’s KR2 Productivity Enhancement Project. Twelve other beneficiaries from this batch cover 10 regions around the country, getting a total of P12.6 million.
The first two batches of KR2-funded projects totaled 55 amounting to some P99 million.
The new batch of recipients of KR2 includes the production of market-oriented organic food products in Calabarzon by the University of the Philippines-Los Baños; ecotourism development of Bangrin Marine Protected Area in Bani, Pangasinan; pineapple by-products processing and utilization by the Camarines Norte State College; cassava processing plant and trading capital by the local government of Aborlan, Palawan; cage culture of groupers at barangay Batuhan by the local government of Pola, Oriental Mindoro; and organic fertilizer production by the local government of Luban, Occidental Mindoro, among others.
