Some 114 farmers’ groups in Eastern Visayas listed as recipients of the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA – SAAD) program will receive further marketing and enterprise support to boost their egg production.

The associations, with 2,253 members, have been receiving government support since 2020. They are also listed as beneficiaries of the DA’s Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2) program.

DA-Eastern Visayas regional technical director for operations Larry Sultan said in a statement on Monday that a comprehensive evaluation will be done on the targeted groups provided with egg layer production support to ensure the inclusion of the F2C2 strategy.

“We will focus on the sustainability of their projects, their associations’ internal core, their financial management, and the quality and quantity of products they produce,” Sultan said.

F2C2 is a strategy implemented by the DA that focuses on grouping together crops, livestock and fish producers within a community or adjacent communities.

It aims to improve the lives of the farmers and fisherfolk by creating economies of scale, strengthening accessibility to the market, improving bargaining and marketing capability, attracting strategic investments, and improving overall agriculture sector productivity.

Of the 114 associations, 20 are in Leyte province, five in Southern Leyte, 37 in Samar, 34 in Eastern Samar and 18 in Northern Samar.

“Now, part of the monitoring activities is the identification of prospective groups with strong internal core and financial management. We want to have viable organizations to succeed in clustering and consolidation, then achieve the small brother – big brother concept,” Sultan added.

Under the strategy, the DA will conduct forecasting activities to identify the possible supplies of eggs coming from SAAD beneficiaries in the upcoming years.

This initiative of interlinking the SAAD program’s egg layer projects farmer beneficiaries with the F2C2 strategy is only a step toward incorporating other beneficiaries bearing different commodities covered by the program.

SAAD is a special program of the DA focusing on the 10 poorest provinces in the country, which include the five provinces in Eastern Visayas.

Activities are focused on social preparation and provision of agriculture and fishery-related livelihood interventions to address poverty. (PNA)