DA releases P700T hunger mitigation fund to Antique
The province of Antique remains in the priority list of the government's hunger mitigation program through the Department of Agriculture (DA).
DA Regional Executive Director Larry Nacionales said a P700,000 budget was recently released to the province as part of the program.
Nacionales said the fund is intended for the towns of Belison, Libertad, Sebaste, Anini-y and Barbaza.
He said, the fund will be used for the livestock program like goat raising. The recipients are mostly farmers belonging to rainfed areas. Goat raising is a very easy, said Nacionales.
Ealier, DA released P1.9 million intended for vegetable farming or the Gulayan ng Masa program. The project is currently being implemented. There are some 12,000 recipients for the vegetable farming project.
The vegetable farming are done through household or backyard garden and community garden. The department is still working to introduce the school garden method through the Department of Education (DepEd), said Nacionales.
Antique became the priority for the hunger mitigation program of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because of the high incidence of poverty and malnutrition in the province.
The basis for the province's inclusion was the reports gathered by the National Nutrition Council (NNC) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), said Nacionales.