BACOLOD City – The city government has requested a P750-million fund from the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the construction of an agricultural center here.
This comes after the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s (SP) approval of the proposed resolution of Councilor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, chairman of the SP committee on agriculture, for the establishment of an agricultural center that will have a warehouse and modern cold storage facility.
Sayson said the city government operates within a tightly balanced budget, including its development fund sourced from the Internal Revenue Allotment (now National Tax Allocation), which limits its capacity to finance major infrastructure projects.
Thus, the city government is willing to meet with the concerned officials to be able to submit the requirements to the DA to facilitate the provision of funding for the said project.
The city’s agricultural sector, including its farmers and fisherfolk, is steadily growing, albeit slowly due to challenges such as scattered production areas, low productivity, lack of post-harvest facilities, insufficient farm-to-market roads, and limited trading and marketing support for producers.
“Farmers and fisherfolk have been suffering from low income and indebtedness, as their produce is often bought at very low farm-gate prices by middlemen and brokers due to lack of local government infrastructure for hauling, marketing, and trading,” Sayson said.
He added that other economic players in the city, including major food and fish traders and importers, have expressed interest expanding economic activities and investments here but have been hindered by the lack of essential facilities such as an agricultural trading center and modem cold storage.
The councilor further said that addressing these issues requires substantial funding to finance the construction of an agri center, which will ensure proper handling and storage of produce, and provide marketing and trading facilities to support the agricultural sector./PN