The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) recently launched a new poverty reduction project dubbed as ““Expanding the Food and Income Base in Target Barangays in Calamity Prone Municipalities in Bicol,” which aims to improve the quality of life and empower the  residents  in calamity-prone areas in the provinces of Albay and Sorsogon. The project will be funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Albay province was selected as many poor families living around the Mayon Volcano suffer from hunger due to food shortage especially when the volcano erupts.   Likewise, many residents in the province of Sorsogon are poor and undernourished.  Further, their condition is aggravated by calamities which often occur in these areas.