A farmer checks on his rice plants in his farm in Cebu in this 2018 photo. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Agriculture Department (CAD) said that 2,000 out of 3,000 city farmers had already received the economic stimulus package.
Engineer Joel Baclayon, current head of the CAD, said the aim of the stimulus package would be to provide capital to the farmers to improve their production.
The second distribution of the package will most likely end by July 2022, with only 1,000 farmers left to get their stimulus.
“Among awhag lang sa farmers nga kumpletohon ilang requirements. Hopefully, ila gyod gamiton nang kwarta para sa paglambo sa ilang pag-uma,” said Baclayon.
(We call on the farmers to complete their requirements. Hopefully, they would use the money to impromve their farming.)
Each farmer should get P5,000 from the stimulus package that they can use for fertilizer, equipment, seedling, farm animal raising, and other agricultural production.
Meanwhile, the CAD will propose a mega farm project in the mountain barangays to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The city is hoping for support from the DA since President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will be taking the helm of the department, himself, for the first six months of his term.
With the President, himself, taking focus on agriculture, the CAD believes this will give a bigger chance for the mega farm to get funding.
Baclayon said that there was a need to build a mega farm in the city’s mountain barangays in order to boost production.
“First time nga usa ka presidente ang mo-handle sa Department of Agriculture. Nindot kaayo na nga development kay seguradong matutokan gyud ang agrikultura,” he said.
(It’s the first time that a president will handle the Department of Agriculture. That is a good development because focus will be given on agriculture.)
“Diri sa Cebu City, naa tay gitan-aw nga mega farm. Ato gyod ning ipush,” said Baclayon.
(Here in Cebu City, we are looking at a mega farm. That is what we are pushing.)
The city government is already looking into areas where this mega farm can be built.
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