DA boosts cooperation with FAO to increase agri yield

The Department of Ag- riculture on Wednesday said it will intensify its longstanding collaboration with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help the administration achieve its target of increasing local production and providing affordable food prices.

In a statement, the DA said the two parties discussed pressing issues that should be addressed to make the food security target feasible.

“Among the issues discussed were major concerns on transboundary animal diseases affecting the country’s livestock and poultry industries, intensification of the production and supply of rice and corn, production and mobilization of food through the DA–Bureau of Plant Industry and the Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita Program, and programs to stabilize the prices of agricultural commodities,” it said.

The UN FAO made the discussion with the department as it welcomed its new representative to the Philippines, Lionel Henri Valentin Dabbadie.

“Senior Undersecretary (Domingo Panganiban) thanked FAO for its ongoing assistance to developing countries in facilitating the development and promoting sustainability to make food security possible,” the DA said.

Alongside DA’s discussion of the country’s current status in the agriculture sector, the two officials