MANILA -The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) will work on a P6.6-billion project that seeks to improve the livelihood of farmers and fishers in Mindanao.
On Monday, the DA and the NCIP signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP).
MIADP is a five-year plan that intends to increase agricultural productivity while protecting the natural resources of ancestral domains.
Under the partnership, the DA will ensure that all programs, subprojects and activities in the ancestral domains are conducted in accordance with the environmental and social safeguards.
Such initiatives are to be implemented with established indigenous knowledge, systems and practices of the indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) and in a participative manner.
The DA will lead the planning, implementation, policymaking, monitoring, evaluation and other related activities of the MIADP. It will coordinate with the NCIP to carry out the undertakings.
NCIP endorsement
The NCIP will select and endorse the ICCs/IPs with a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) or certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) for the priority ancestral lands.
The DA will lead the preparatory activities, such as coordination or consultative meetings with stakeholders and site visits in close coordination with the NCIP.
The NCIP will provide the necessary technical support and assistance, and facilitate the conduct and documentation of the free, prior and informed consent process pertaining to the programs of the DA within the ancestral domain, provided it is undertaken in accordance with the prescribed timeline of the MIADP.
The NCIP is responsible for processing and issuing the certification precondition to all projects situated in the ancestral domain.
The NCIP will provide or facilitate data collection on the following: certificates of ancestral domain title, ancestral domain claim, ancestral land title or approval of CADT application by the Commission en banc, as well as ancestral domain sustainable development and protection plan and demographics and socioeconomic profile of partner ICCs/IPs.
MIADP will focus on 26 ancestral lands in Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen, Caraga and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The World Bank (WB) had approved a $100-million loan to the government for the MIADP, which it said would benefit around 120,000 farmers and fisherfolk in selected ancestral domains in Mindanao.
Mindanao contributes 33.4 percent of the total value of agricultural production in the Philippines, surpassed only by Luzon at 39.2 percent and followed by Visayas at 27.4 percent, according to WB.
“Mindanao is home to about 25 percent of the Philippines’ population but accounts for 35 percent of the country’s poor,” said Ndiamé Diop, World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. INQ