Good morning! I am truly happy to meet and see you all today.
Today is another day to be grateful because it is not every day that we convene to sit down and assess our accomplishments and plan our future direction.
The AFCs have always played a significant role in the development of the agriculture and fishery sector in the country. They have been our partners in achieving the goals and mandates not just of our agency but also of the Department of Agriculture as they help in making the decisions and policies that the government should pursue through relevant and timely policy recommendations.
Just recently, RAFC 12, through PCAF, came up with a policy that recommends the establishment of a new unit to assist the farmers, fisherfolks and stakeholders to prepare project proposals for funding and support.
Fortunately, Secretary Emmanuel Piñol already signed the said memorandum last Monday. Sec. Piñol named this unit as ALAMM or Alalay sa Magsasaka at Mangingisda Office which will be fully operational by January 2017.
ALAMM is expected to enlighten farmers, fishermen and other stakeholders on what assistance and support they could get from government. This is one of the proudest accomplishments of our volunteer-partners.
Today, we will present this year’s accomplishment to determine whether or not our targets are being met. Through this meeting, we can implement effective action plans and appropriate solutions toward accomplishing of our objectives.
We will also present the results of the evaluative study on PCAF’s Consultative Bodies Participatory Governance to assess the performance of PCAF’s consultative mechanisms in terms of outputs and to a certain extent the outcomes of certain policies, and overall contributions to PCAF’s mandate
I also encourage everyone here to identify the gaps that we have faced or we may possibly encounter. By doing these, we can pre-evaluate the situation and prevent risks that may come along as we continue to perform our daily tasks.
Hopefully, at the end of this undertaking, we will be able to develop a shared understanding and collective decision on how to improve the delivery of our services to our clientele and help realize a more responsive agriculture and fisheries sector.
I believe that through our cooperation and open-mindedness, we will be able to meet the objectives of this meeting and come up with positive and satisfying results. Together, we can attain a conducive policy environment that will lead us to a globally competitive and sustainable agriculture and fisheries sector and ultimately improve the lives of our farmers and fisherfolks.
In behalf of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries, I welcome you all to this AFC Operational Meeting!
Maraming salamat po!
Date: December 14, 2016
Venue: Hotel Stotsenberg, Clark, Pampanga
