By Armando Fenequito Jr.

DAVAO CITY – The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has proposed the establishment of an Israeli Kibbutz-type Rural Resettlement Community for the returning urban informal settlers under the “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program” (BPBPP) of the Duterte Administration.

Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said, in a statement, he has presented a 3D model of the proposed Kibbutz-type resettlements for the first eight provinces in Mindanao which will participate in the program.

Piñol said that, for the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Lanao del Norte, MinDA proposed that each community would undertake a common activity with a complete value chain.

“In the case of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte, where Mayor Rommel Arnado has offered a five-hectare area as resettlement, the proposal is for the 200 returning families to be trained on organic broiler chicken and organic vegetable production,” he said.

He said Kauswagan was one of the few municipalities in the Philippines which has totally embraced organic farming.

“A 3D model which I presented during a Zoom conference yesterday shows an area allocated for housing units while at the far end of the 5-hectare settlement are the broiler chicken houses,” he said.

Piñol also said that in between the chicken houses and the housing units are the vegetable gardens which will utilize the wastes from organic broiler chicken production, the feed mill and processing facilities, including a cold storage.

“A Solar-Powered Potable Water and Irrigation System will also be set up with the solar panels mounted on top of the chicken houses to save space,” he said.

Also, he said that farmers outside of the rural resettlements will be contracted to produce the raw material requirements of the feed mill and other operations.

“To complete the value chain, an off-taker will be involved to purchase the organic chicken and vegetable produced by the BPBPP rural resettlement community,” he said.

He said MinDA will be meeting with the heads of all of the 21 agencies which belong to the BPBPP Council in Regions 9 and 10 to finalize the plan for the implementation of the program.

“With the needed funding and support in place, actual groundwork could start by the end of May, and the first resettlement area would be ready by September this year,” he said.

On the other hand, Piñol said that the Management Committee of MinDA supported his proposal to establish a Northern Mindanao Satellite Office in Dipolog City, the capital of Zamboanga del Norte.

He said the establishment of a satellite office in one of Mindanao’s poorest provinces comes as Zamboanga del Norte prepares to establish the first Kibbutz-type Rural Resettlement for returning urban dwellers under the BPBPP pushed by Senator Christopher Lawrence Go.

He said that Zamboanga del Norte Governor Roberto Uy has offered an office building for the MinDA Satellite Office in the Provincial Agro-Industrial Center near Dipolog.

“During the MANCOM meeting on Monday (May 11), MinDA will present to the Zamboanga del Norte local government a draft Memorandum of Agreement for a partnership aimed at turning one of the country’s poorest provinces into a progressive rural economy,” he said.

Piñol added that the partnership will involve the fielding of technical people from MinDA to assist Zamboanga del Norte in its development planning and actual groundwork.

“This will literally bring MinDA workers right in the virtual battlefield to lead development and anti-poverty programs for Zamboanga del Norte,” he said.