SEARCA, ViCAARP to promote agric dev’t in Inopacan, Leyte

The project Piloting Models of Inclusive and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ISARD): Strengthening Linkages among Farmers, Government and Industry Sectors for Inclusive and Sustainable Rural Development in Inopacan, Leyte aims to pilot-test agricultural and rural development models that can potentially address the prevailing socio-economic conditions.

Improving production, productivity, and income from growing marketable crops through better knowledge management, and provision of production and technical support are the marks the project aims to hit.

Through the project, farmers will be organized to boost their linkage to market and other stakeholders in agriculture and rural development. An organized farmer group will also facilitate capability-building of both growers and technicians of Inopacan.

The project will be implemented in Inopacan because its 20,000 population is dependent on agriculture especially coconut, corn, banana, rootcrops, and minor crops such as vegetables and fruits. Inopacan dwellers also raise livestock including pigs, native chicken, ducks and goats.

As a third class municipality, Inopacan have problems in food security and high incidence of poverty. In a  recent Participatory and Rapid Rural Appraisal conducted by VSU in four upland barangays, the municipality was found to have inadequate irrigation system, lack of fertile open farms since coconut are planted in relatively fertile areas, disinterest in farming among the youth, and low commodity farmgate price.

The project is governed by the four interrelated components such as technical assistance, institutional development and capacity-building, knowledge management, and linkage for support services.

The project commenced in March 2016 and will end in April 2019.