Lingayen
–
Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. led the inauguration of the Barangay Food
Terminal (BFT) in sitioMapita, barangay Laoag in Aguilar town on December 3 as
a continuing effort to increase agricultural production in the farmer community
of Indigenous People (IP).
Launched
by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in cooperation with the provincial
government,the food terminal willaddress the problems of the farmers in
transporting their products from the highland community to their local markets in
the lowlandto increase the income of
farmers.
“Nuon,
kanya-kanyakamingnagbababangproduktoperongayonsa BFT munaiipuninngmga farmers
angmgagulaybagoibababasa local markets,” Margarita Rola, SitioMapita High Value
Crop Grower’s Association president, said.
Governor
Espino, vowed to support the agri-development projects in the highland village being
implemented by DA in partnership with the provincial government. He said a
‘training center' will rise next year in the highland village where farmers
could conduct their training on agricultural production and entrepreneurial activities.
Agricultural
production in the province, Governor Espino said, has consistently developed as
evidenced by the two national rice achievers award and
two national corn achievers awards received by the province.
Provincial
Agriculturist OIC DalisayMoya noted that the major project of the provincial
government in the area was the construction of the Banga-Pinoy, a water
reservoir -- with 3 units of 10,000-liter capacity and 6 other units of
5,000-liter capacity.
“Through
Banga-Pinoy, villagers could now utilize spring water from the ZambalesMountains
for the domestic consumption and agricultural production,” Moya said.
Last May, the
provincial government granted a Php297,000-subsidy to SitioMapita High Value
Crops Growers’ Association to complete the implementation of the irrigation component.
The
agricultural production of Mapita farmers has increased with the completion of
the irrigation facility which also helps sustain the Farmer Entrepreneurship
Program (FEP) launched in the village in 2009.
JuanitoRola,
the first farmer graduate of FEP said the IP community relied on traditional
farming for decades, but had adopted organic farming with the guidance and
training assistance from the Provincial Agriculture office.
“I’ve
been a farmer for 35 years, but it was few years back when farmers in our
community were introduced to the FEP,” Rola said.
Moya
said the provincial government will sponsor training for organic vegetable production
along with the provision of post harvest facilities in said sitio next year.
/MGNO
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