by Lowell S. Vallecer
ZAMBOANGA CITY, February 29 - - - Several government agencies have jointly undertaken a series of consultative meetings with various stakeholders of the Zamboanga Peninsula’s so-called champion products.
It started in November 16, 2011 when the consultative meeting on coco-coir was held in Pagadian City. The said agencies proceeded to meet with stakeholders of the processed fish industry in Dipolog last February 22, 2012.
Next on the line is the seaweeds industry which was scheduled yesterday, February 28, 2012 in Zamboanga City. Thereafter, on March 6 and 7, the team is tentatively scheduled to meet with stakeholders of the abaca and rubber industries in Ipil, ZamboangaSibugay.
The last consultative meeting will be on mango which will be held in Zamboanga City on March 15, 2012.
“These meetings we are holding with the industry stakeholders are part of the validation process as we try to upgrade and finetune the development plans we have prepared for each industry for 2012 and beyond”, Assistant Regional Director Sitti Amina Jain, said in an interview.
“The industry plans of the region’s champion products had been crafted by members of the SME Core Group during the value chain approach (VCA) workshops which DTI facilitated in the past - the latest of which was done just last month and attended by officials and technical personnel from member agencies of the SME Core in the region”, Jain said.
“We want these action plans to work not just on paper and thus, be truly relevant and responsive to the actual needs of the industry to which they were crafted”.
“The meetings are facilitated as such that gaps, and issues and concerns confronting the industry that were once heretofore unknown could surface, and so we could “take the bull by the horns”, so to speak, Jain said, referring to the more precise interventions the agencies could now take for the industry.
Invited to the consultative meetings are the officials of farmer groups, industry associations officers, the processors and traders of each industry, concerned government agencies, and other stakeholders.
The inter-agency team spearheading these consultations are the Department of Trade and Industry which is the lead agency for the processed fish industry; the Philippine Coconut Authority for coconut; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for seaweeds; Fiber Industry Development Authority for abaca; and the Department of Agriculture for rubber and mango.
The region’s champion products had been identified as such through a resolution by the Regional Development Council in 2005. Abaca was added as a champion product by the RDC in 2011.(LSV/DTI9/PIA9/alt)