Agri dept. wants P73M budget

CEBU, Philippines - The city's agriculture department would need P73 million for its expenses next year.

City agriculturist Joey Baclayon said they are hopeful the city will approve the proposed amount.

Last year, only P13 million of the proposed P58 million budget for this year was approved.

"We really have to have a tight spending but we are also happy with the other agencies, like the DA (Department of Agriculture) nitabang gyud sila," Baclayon said.

Based on reports, the proposed P10 billion 2014 annual budget was slashed to P5.8 billion to keep the government running for this year.

Baclayon assured more projects and activities for farmers if the proposed budget for next year will be approved.

"Gi-categorize man namo ang mga farmers. Ang class A farmer katong datu na gyud, ang B katong average lang, ang C katong wala na gyud kaayoy mahimo pero they are doing farming so mao nang gitigaan namo priority by giving them, right assitance," he said.

Baclayon said he asked for higher budget because his office is targeting necessary assistance to farmers to improve their livelihood. He said that with the projects they have lined up for the farmers, they would no longer have to go to urban areas to work.

"Let's try to really hold them in the area para mag-produce ra gyud sila rather than moanhi sila sa syudad niya mangita og trabaho, so didto, we really have to ensure the production, the food supply kay naa man gyud mopalit," he added.

He also said that there is a need to train the farmers on how to handle their money.

"Tan-aw pud nato importante nakita nako ang pagkuan (handle) sa kwarta kay dako kaayo income ang farmer. Pero makita nato murag pobre lang gihapon. Maybe there's something wrong in managing their money. Ang pag-spend their money kay maybe they are spending dili na kinahanglan," he said. —  (FREEMAN)