The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the Soccsksargen region has recently conducted validation of the farmers’ capability to meet the demand of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) for healthy and fresh vegetables need by the prisoners, also called persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).
Mariannie Lauban-Baunto, Soccsksargen director, said the activity was held in line with the government’s enhanced partnership against hunger and poverty program (EPAHPP), a government initiative addressing hunger and poverty through the synergy and convergence of essential services of the government agencies.
“We also want to know if we successfully carried out the department’s obligation under the agreement, as well as, we want to identify the challenges we encountered during the implementation of the project so that we would know the proper measure to make this program more effective,” she said.
EPAHPP is one of the best partnerships between the government and the farmers to be able to help mitigate hunger, ensure food and nutrition security, and reduce the poverty of its beneficiaries in urban and rural communities, including marginalized communities, she added.