City farms eyed as alternative source of agricultural produce

CEBU, Philippines - While agricultural properties in Cebu, particularly in the northern part of the province, were devastated by super typhoon Yolanda, the local market could capitalize on the produce of the farming sector in Cebu City to cope with the demand of agricultural products.

Cebu City agriculturist Joselito Baclayon said that the series of calamities that recently hit the country spared Cebu City from grave destruction and only caused minimal damage to its agriculture sector.

He said that while the storm destroyed standing crops such as sweet corn, mangoes and ampalaya, it did not affect the growth and supply of leading crops sold in the market.

He pointed out that the calamities served as an eye-opener for the agriculture sector to educate farmers on the importance of climatic conditions and its effects to plants.

"They have to observe seasons especially during the typhoon months, practice planting calendar, and learn the effects of climate change," he said.

He further said that the high demand for fruits and vegetables could be attributed to the rapid expansion of hotels, restaurants and food chains in the province.

Baclayon then described the agriculture sector in Cebu City to be at par with other parts of the province and the country.

He said that its high volume production of high valued vegetables, sweet corn, cut flowers and mangoes account a significant contribution to the supply needs of  the consumers in Cebu and other provinces in the region.

He cited that Cebu City accounts a contribution of 25 percent in terms of the gross production in the Cebu main markets. About five percent of which is composed of the sweet corn produce. These also include the harvest in vegetables, flowers and fruits from the central mountain barangays in Cebu City such as Tabao, Adlaon, Sirao, Sibugay, and Taptap.

For instance, he said that sweet corn and cut flowers were particularly distributed to Bohol, Negros, Iloilo, Leyte and even to some parts of Luzon.

Meanwhile, Baclayon acknowledged the significant achievements of the city agriculture sector specifically on the partnership of Cebu City with the private companies and institutional markets and buyers.

"The high demand of vegetables, fruits and flowers provides inspiration among our farmers' associations and rural communities to produce market-driven crops, hence assuring them of better farm income," he stated.

He shared that the alternative marketing and entrepreneurship programs organized by the city for farmers were aimed to provide better marketing opportunities among farmer clusters to produce specific crops, capture markets and earn higher revenues.

The programs were in cooperation with Jollibee Group Foundation, National Livelihood Development Corporation, Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative, and Catholic Relief Services.

He also expressed gratitude to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala when he paid visit to Cebu last June of this year to provide opportunity and assistance among farmers in the city to produce more.

Baclayon pointed out, however, that the Department of Agriculture also suffers constraints as similar with other government offices, in terms of funding support that could actually help the agency to expand their programs and services to organized farmer beneficiaries.

Amid such challenges, he lauded the efforts of organized groups of farmers to sustain the growth and cope with the market demand this year. /JMD (FREEMAN)