PJ: Next generation of farmers needed

CEBU, Philippines - Third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia wants to produce young generation of farmers in the Province of Cebu if elected governor next year.

Garcia, a gubernatorial aspirant of One Cebu Party, observed that farmers in Cebu are getting older and older so he wants to attract the younger generation to pursue farming by showing all out support for the agricultural sector.

Garcia was among the speakers during the midyear congress of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the Cebu Provincial Federation of Irrigators’ Association (CPFIA).

Garcia observed that most of the farmers are already aged 65 years or older.

In the third district, Garcia said, scholarship programs are offered to those who are interested to take up agriculture courses.

He said the Provincial Government should continue its agricultural programs to attract the younger ones.

“We need to show the new ones nga ania gihapon ang suporta sa gobyerno kung gusto sila’ng mo sulod sa pag-uma,” said Garcia. (We need to show the youth that the government is here to support them if they want to pursue farming.)

The Municipality of Barili in the third district is the home of the College of Agriculture of the Cebu Technological University and an extension campus is in the adjacent town of Dumanjug.

In her message to irrigators, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia underscored her flagship program to enroll in an insurance program the more than 45,000 farmers and fisherfolks, including their crops and livestock, through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

The program has become a model for other local government units to also insure their farmers and fisherfolks, according to PCIC.

The activity of Cebu farmers was attended by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala held in Barangay Can-asujan, Carcar City last week.

 Alcala, who expressed his vision to change the agriculture landscape and the lives of the farmers in the country, awarded hand tractors, corn mills, rice thresher machines, shallow tube wells, carabaos with plow, and farmer’s harrows, among others to the different irrigators’ associations in the province. — (FREEMAN)