ARMM, WFP, FAO ink multi-million agri deal

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Aug 15 (PIA) --- Representatives of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the United Nation’s World Food Programme (UN-WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) inked a tripartite partnership on food security and climate change mitigation projects in Maguindanao province.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv S. Hataman along with Cesar V. Galvan, UN-FAO project team leader, and Praveen Agrawal, UN-WFP representative and country director, signed a memorandum of understanding setting the implementation of a P26.6-million-worth project.

The multi-million deal is set to benefit thousands of farmers in the province who were affected by recurring floods and those with uncultivated land due to armed conflicts.

UN-WFP pledged P21.9M for the project while P4.7M will come from the UN-FAO.

ARMM’s Agriculture Secretary Makmod Mending, Jr. said the region’s Department of Agriculture will provide technical assistance and various farm inputs to the farmer beneficiaries.

Agrawal said the issue on food and nutrition is a cross-cutting matter that is interlinked with health, economy, peace and development in the region. That is why, according to him, food security is very vital in rebuilding conflict-ridden communities in Maguindanao.

“It is a great privilege to work with ARMM,” said Agrawal.

He added the UN-WFP has worked with their most important partners -- men and women of Mindanao to ensure their brighter future.

Maguindanao, one of the five provinces of ARMM, experiences perennial flooding. So farmers who are also flood victims have no chance of recovery, said Galvan.

Aside from training the farmers, UN-FAO will also give each of the farmers with rice and vegetable seeds packaged with fertilizers.

Mending said the newly-signed project also addresses climate change mitigation as distribution of agro-forestry inputs and building of dikes are included in it.

Meanwhile, Hataman gave assurance beneficial programs such as this will be sustained in his administration. (Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/PIA-10)