TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Office for the City Agricultural Services (OfCAS), City Veterinary Services Office, City Cooperative and Enterprise Development Office, and other concerned offices of the city government are participating in a workshop that started today, March 8, to formulate the City Agriculture Development plan covering 2023-2025 to address the problems of the industry.
OfCAS officer-in-charge Lim Ducyogen said the three-year plan will address the issues and concerns raised by farmers during the series of farmer’s forum conducted last year, and set a common direction for concerned offices as they formulate their programs for the agriculture sector.
Under the plan, interventions and solutions will be formulated to address the concerns of rice and corn farmers, namely, the low buying price of palay and corn; rising costs of farm inputs; issues with the quality of certified seeds received from the national government under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund program; uncontrolled conversion of agricultural lands; and the untimely distribution of certified seeds.
The plan also seeks to tackle problems in fish production including the slow growth of distributed fingerlings, short supply of fingerlings, and lack of training for fishpond operators.
For high-value crops production, the plan aims to address the low buying price of coffee products, degradation of coffee and other agro-forestry areas due to corn production, and lack of equipment for orchard development.
The plan also aims to boost infrastructure support to address the lack of post-harvest facilities and farm machinery, lack of common trading area for high-value crops, and the problem of inadequate farm-to-market roads and irrigation services and flooding in lower Tabuk.
Lastly, the plan will outline interventions to address the lack of animal health facility and equipment, proliferation of illegal backyard slaughtering, decrease in livestock population, and other concerns of the livestock industry.