To operationalize Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.’s vision for a climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector, the DA Climate Resilient Agriculture Office (CRAO) and Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) Program Director Agnes Catherine Miranda spearheaded the exploratory meeting with the DA – Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo Program (4Ks). Director Gilbert V. Baltazar, MPA, led the 4Ks delegation, supported by key cluster heads and component leads, including Dr. Norodin S. Malugayak, Head of Program Services and Intervention Cluster, Joel Memita and Sheryl C. Alapad of the Institutional Development Component, and Community Development Officer Samantha Jay C. de Leon.

DA CRAO Director Miranda emphasized that the primary directive from the Secretary is to “mainstream climate resiliency across all banner programs,” specifically ordering the establishment of three “Model Climate-Resilient IP Villages,” one each in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. These climate-resilient IP communities will serve as field-level models for policy implementation.


She further explained that resiliency is fundamentally about “how farmers do things,” requiring a shift from traditional “trial and error” methods to science-based decision-making through the use of Climate Information Services (CIS) and risk mapping to address the vulnerabilities faced by Indigenous Peoples (IP) due to marginalization, isolation, and extreme weather events.

Supporting this alignment, 4Ks Program Director Gilbert V. Baltazar highlighted the importance of matching their targeted ancestral domains with AMIA’s technical data to eliminate program redundancies and optimize resource allocation.
 
Director Baltazar also underscored the Secretary’s vision to strengthen the entrepreneurial viability of the sector through a “market-driven approach”, noting that 4Ks successful partnerships with global corporations like UCC (Ueshima Coffee Co.) and Mama Sita’s demonstrate that IP farmers should be “treated as professional business partners rather than mere recipients of interventions.”
 
In conclusion, Director Miranda stressed that by integrating traditional stewardship and science-based interventions from both programs, the Department is enabling IP farmers to mitigate climate risks and optimize their production cycles. This data-driven approach will solidify their role as competitive agricultural partners, safeguarding both their cultural heritage and their capacity to accurately project yields and create self-sustaining, climate-resilient livelihoods.##