“I accompanied them to give seeds to the farmers, and I am here to give seeds of hope, ” Minister Yacob told the farmers during the Grand Rice Harvest Festival in Datu Paglas, Maguindano.

What the minister meant by “giving seed of hope” is the response to the call of Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim to help the poor, and the vulnerable farmers.

“You farmers are the heroes in the community. You feed the people but you are hungry, and from this time on, it should be reversed, you feed the community and you are well off too”.

The BARMM intervention is crucial, and we are partners to pursue and strengthen the economic development of the region Mayor Abubakar Paglas said. He proposed to the BARMM the so called one barangay, one product for instant planting tomato in barangay A, then barangay B should be petchay, and so on to avoid duplications of the products.

To make it much clearer of this approach Dr. Sailila E. Abdullah Assistant Secretary of MAFAR- BARMM told the audience in a brief program that, “There should be a consolidation and institutionalization where cooperatives members themselves are the one who plant, harvest and the selling of produce to avoid the middle men who are mostly spoilers and determine the market price.

The activity is a yearly occasion usually held in the month of November but this time, it was held earlier due to the season according to Datu Paglas Vice Mayor Muhammad Paglas. He further said that jihad must continue but not in the form of arms, but through farming”.

Minister Yacob also said that, it has been mentioned during cabinet meeting that BARMM would help farmers by buying their harvest.