TUBA, Benguet – The municipal government said it will pursue the put up of a 3-hectare demo farm in barangay Nangalisan to serve as a potential ecotourism site in the locality.
Mayor Ignacio Rivera said among the components of the demo farm are the propagation of agro-forestry planting materials, breeding of livestocks and the production of endemic species of plants to encourage residents to be actively involved in agro-forestry activities to help preserve and protect the environment in the area.
“We will make the development of our demo farm as one of the priority projects of the local government to increase the awareness of residents on the potentials and advantages of the backyard propagation of beneficial agro-forestry trees as added source of income for the people in the different barangays,” Rivera stressed.
The local chief executive expressed his gratitude to the land owner who reportedly allowed his property to be converted into a demo farm to be managed and operated by the local government, saying that there is a need for the active participation of barangay officials for the successful implementation of the program.
According to him, the proposed demo farm will also serve as an ecotourism destination in the municipality to provide alternative destinations for the increasing number of tourists visiting tourist destinations in the different parts of the municipality such as the Asin hot springs, the various caves along Kennon road, among others.
Mayor Rivera added the municipal government intends to develop the road leading to the proposed demo farm to make it easily accessible to visitors.
He expressed confidence that when the farm becomes fully operation, it will definitely spur increased economic activities in the barangay that will inrease employment and livelihood sources for the residents.
Rivera claims the local government should have sustainable income-generating projects to augment current sources of income that will narrow the gap between the town’s internal revenue allotment (IRA) and local budget.
As a first-class municipality, he claimed the local government should maximize its available potential sources of added revenue without burdening the taxpayers to make it self-reliant from IRA.
He emphasized the operation of the demo farm, in partnership with the land owner, is a boost to the efforts of the local government to use available potential sources of revenue to help increase the ability of the municipality to implement more development projects in the beneficiary barangays and more importantly improve and increase the frequency of basic services to the people in the barangays.
Tuba is a first-class municipality primarily because of the operation of Philex Mining Corporation that significantly contributed to its overall growth through the years.
By HENT
