Saturday, December 14, 2024

Awareness seminar on food safety, regulations held

MALAYBALAY CITY, Bukidnon — The Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10), through its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), staged an awareness seminar on food safety and regulations on August 15 at the Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Complex (NMACLRC), in this city

During this time, the agency apprised almost 50 local farmers and agri-enterprises from the provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, and Lanao del Norte on key concepts and relevant laws on food safety.

On behalf of DA-10 Regional Executive Director Jose Apollo Y. Pacamalan, AMAD Assistant Division Chief Ferdinand F. Caraballe emphasized its importance for local stakeholders engaged in producing agricultural commodities and food products.

“[The DA] conducts this seminar annually because we handle food, and therefore, it is our commitment to our consumers that what we deliver is safe and free from foodborne diseases,” Caraballe said.

Through Republic Act No. 10611, otherwise known as the ‘Food Safety Act of 2013’, the DA and its attached regulatory agencies, bureaus, and corporations are identified as food safety regulatory agencies (FSRAs) responsible for the implementation of laws, standards, and programs on food safety in the primary production and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain.

Said regulatory agencies include the Bureau of Animal Industry, National Meat Inspection Service, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Bureau of Plant Industry, Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, Philippine Coconut Authority, Sugar Regulatory Administration, and the National Dairy Authority.

Underscoring the role of the local government in the implementation of food safety laws, Andrew M. Calimutan of the Office of the DA Assistant Secretary for Policy and Regulations said that the Department, through the aforementioned regulatory agencies, continues to engage and assist LGUs in the formulation of local ordinances on food safety.

Further, he said that the agency is presently revisiting its regulatory policies to ensure that they are retrofitted to current industry and trade standards and remain in service to consumer and food safety interests.

Under RA 10611, DA conducts training for local producers and food business operators on food safety to ensure their compliance with industry standards, including the Code of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Code of Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP), and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP).

Market Specialist IV Irish O. Ativo from the DA-Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service said that these standards and compliance certifications provide a competitive advantage for food business operators, as they allow for market expansion and build consumer trust and confidence in their products.

During the session, the farmers were also kept abreast of practical food handling practices for agricultural produce, salient information on the Participatory Guarantee System, and a comprehensive review of the activities and services offered by the Food Safety Operations Unit of the BPI-Plant Product Safety Services Division.

They were also briefed on the strategies for marketing GAP-certified products through the Department’s KADIWA marketing program.

In closing, Caraballe urged the participants to apply what they had learned throughout the session to their respective enterprises and agricultural production, highlighting its implications in building public trust, consumer safety, and food quality and nutrition.

The said activity is in line with the Department’s refined thrusts toward a ‘Masaganang Bagong Pilipinas’ under the leadership of Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. and President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. (GDA)

PLGU Bukidnon midawat og P3.2-million truck gikan DA-10

Ang Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) nagtugyan og isa ka hauling truck nga adunay balor nga P3.2 million ngadto sa Provincial Local Government Unit sa Bukidnon niadtong Pebrero 22, 2024

Sumala sa kasayoran sa DA-10, tumong niini ron mapaspasan ang pagpalapad sa serbisyo sa agrikultura.

Ang proyekto sa sakyanan nga gipundohan ubos sa Corn Program sa ahensya gi-turnover sa mga opisyal sa DA-10 ngadto kang Acting Provincial Agriculturist Jacqueline Julia A. Lagamon.

Paambit ni Lagamon nga ang trak makatabang sa paghatod sa mga inputs sama sa seeds ug abono ingon man ayuda sa mga operasyon sa Kadiwa sa probinsiya.

Dugang niya nga “kining hauling truck makapadali sa paghatod sa agri-interventions ngadto sa mga benepisyaryo, ilabina sa lagyong mga dapit ug makapauswag sa mga aspeto sa produksiyon ug pagpamaligya sa mga mag-uuma sa probinsiya.”

Si Carlene C. Collado, DA-10 regional executive director ug Bukidnon Governor Rogelio Neil P. Roque mipirma sa Memorandum of Agreement alang sa hauling truck niadtong Pebrero 19, 2024. (melbmadera)

Over 1,000 jobs up for grabs for DOLE’s 90th anniv celebration

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Dec. 13, 2023)– The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office 10, led by Regional Director Erwin N. Aquino, spearheaded a job fair on December 1-2, at the SM Uptown, Masterson Avenue, here, as the Department commemorates its 90th founding anniversary with the theme “DOLE @ 90: Serbisyong Mabilis at Matapat sa Bagong Pilipinas.”

In this event, 30 employers demonstrated their participation in the job fair, with more than a thousand job openings for interested job seekers.

Simultaneously, a total of P810,000 worth of salaries were released to 200 beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD), 113 of whom are small-time local vegetable and produce farmers and vendors under the Katuwang sa Diwa at Gawa (KADIWA) Program. Each beneficiary will receive a 10-day pay amounting to P4,050 following service in their respective BLGUs and areas.

“This nationwide conduct of the job fair is DOLE’s strategy toward achieving our mission of providing gainful opportunities to all job seekers as we are about to celebrate our 90th founding anniversary. In the entire region, we have lined up various activities to include a job fair, TUPAD payout, Angel Tree, child labor prevention, and elimination advocacy, among others,” Aquino said.

The DOLE Regional Office 10 urged job seekers across the region to visit the job fair site and land jobs that best suit their skills and talents. Job seekers are encouraged to prepare all the application requirements, such as a resume and other necessary documents.

True to its mandate, DOLE’s steadfast commitment has stood the test of time, delivering opportunities and assistance to every Filipino worker in need through DOLE-accredited job fairs, employment facilitation programs, and economic grants and services. In line with this, the Department aims to be a consistent and reliable government agency that caters to the rights and welfare of workers under its jurisdiction. (DOLE-10/PIA-10)

DA-AMAD 10 agribiz planning workshop refines services delivery in Bukidnon

MALAYBALAY CITY, BUKIDNON — Pushing for synergistic delivery of services in the province, the Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10) through its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) staged a planning and coordination workshop for agribusiness coordinators and municipal agriculturists in Bukidnon on October 26 to 27

Representatives from the agriculture offices of 17 towns and two cities in Bukidnon, as well as its provincial agriculture office, were apprised of the agency’s programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) for market information, market linkage and product promotion, agribusiness promotion, and agribusiness development services.

Said offices also presented their respective updates of activities and operational status of agri inputs and infrastructures (food terminals) provided by DA.

According to DA-10 Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado, the planning workshop aims to foster a more efficient coordination with these agriculture offices to better implement the agency’s PPAs at the local level, as well as to provide the necessary support.

In accordance with the said objective, the workshop’s output is a work plan for CY 2024 that guides the localized conduct of PPAs to effectively address the province’s needs and concerns in agribusiness and marketing.

AMAD Assistant Division chief Ferdinand F. Caraballe said that it also puts a premium on the Enhanced Kadiwa Financial Grant Assistance Program, to which he enjoined the participating offices to link with qualified farmers’ cooperatives, associations (FCAs) in their areas and apply for funding assistance.

Likewise, the division urged the agribiz coordinators to relay the knowledge and information shared during the two-day session to their respective local government units, citing its importance in streamlining project implementation, impact assessment and monitoring, and concerns resolution.

Supporting the activity were DA-10 Provincial Operations Center of Bukidnon chief Janet D. Lopez, DVM, Agribusiness and Industry Support Services section chief Jenny D. Alcobilla, and other AMAD staff. (DA RFO-10)

Kadiwa ng Pangulo, Diskwento Caravan gipahigayon sa Valencia

Malampusong napahigayon sa dakbayan sa Valencia ang Kadiwa ng Pangulo ug Diskwento Caravan Balik Eskwela Edition

Base sa pahibalo sa Provincial Government of Bukidnon, gipahigayon niadtong Agosto 22-23, 2023.

Gipahigayon ang “Katuwang sa Diwa at Gawa Para sa Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita

(KADIWA) ng Pangulo” ug Diskwento Caravan sa Valencia National High School Covered

Court, sa dakbayan sa Valencia.

Adunay mga barato ug swak sa budget nga mga produkto sama sa school supplies, grocery items, utanon, ug uba pa ang mapalit sa maong caravan nga gikan sa lokal nga mga mag-uuma, mangingisda ug micro-enterprises sa probinsya. (Diego M. Hidalgo)

Kadiwa ng Pangulo, Diskwento Caravan gipahigayon sa Valencia

Malampusong napahigayon sa dakbayan sa Valencia ang Kadiwa ng Pangulo ug Diskwento Caravan Balik Eskwela Edition

Some parents and students avail of discounted prices on school supplies at the Kadiwa ng Pangulo and Diskwento Caravan Balik Eskwela Edition held at Valencia National High School Covered Court, Valencia City, Bukidnon on August 22-23, 2023. (PR-LGU Valencia)

Solon distributes P1-B agri projects in N. Mindanao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Senator Imee Marcos led on July 20, 2023, the distribution and launch of Php1 billion worth of agriculture projects for farmers in the Northern Mindanao Region

During her visit, Marcos said Misamis Oriental will receive PHP522.8 million worth of projects, and an initial PHP82.7 million for the local government here, as part of the “OneDA” program under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“I am hopeful that these different projects involve the interventions of additional planting materials, semen straws, and chicken multiplier farms,” she said.

Marcos said the funding could be used in swine clustering, forage seeds, rabbits, provision of chicken supplies, and the putting up small village-type feed mills.

The National Irrigation Authority in Northern Mindanao (NIA-10) will get PHP478 million, of which PHP133 million will go to irrigation development projects.

The funding will also be an allotment for repairing and restoring communal and national irrigation systems and service roads toward national irrigation systems.

DA-10 Executive Director Carlene Collado said the city would have as much as PHP118.3 million on top of what Marcos had earlier committed.

“We will be handling the certificate of turnovers for our current budget for this year,” he said, adding the projects will be given to the different farmer cooperatives and associations.

Lilian Antigua, a OneDA beneficiary, said the programs improve their living conditions and the distribution of their produce to a broader market.

“We can now have a place to place our produce and sell them through ‘Kadiwa’ (program), and through that, we were able to sell it in many places,” she said in the vernacular.

Marcos also attended several turnover projects and a graduation ceremony for senior high school graduates of the Asian Business Cabletow Cooperative Academy. (PNA)

Kadiwa ng Pangulo gilusad sa Bukidnon

Nakighiusa ang Provincial Government of Bukidnon (PGB) sa paglusad sa KADIWA ng Pangulo 2023 sa Bukidnon

Ang PGB nipahibalo nga ang paglusad gipahigayon niadtong Hulyo 17, 2023, sa Kaamulan Park, sa dakbayan sa Malaybalay.

Gitimbayayongan kini sa Office of the President, Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development, ug uban pang ahensya sa gobyerno, ingon man sa pribadong sektor.

Ang KADIWA ng Pangulo inisyatibo ni President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., nga nagtinguha sa isa ka halapad nga han-ay sa barato ug taas nga kalidad nga mga produkto sa agrikultura gikan sa mga lokal nga mag-uuma.

Misalmot sa KnP 2023 ang Lantapan Vegetable Farmers MPC, Pure Gold Valencia, Bukidnon KMME Association, Patpat Madasigon Sustainable Livelihood Program Association, Igpanuyadug sa Abaga Ta Bayug Farmers Association, National Food Authority, DTI assisted MSMEs ug mga Provincial Winners sa Gawad Saka ug young farmers.

Magpadayon sa matag adlaw’ng Huwebes ang KADIWA on wheels diha sa Kaamulan park. (Omar Rashid Z. Abdullah)