MASBATE CITY — Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has directed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to maintain freezers in areas without or with not enough power supply.
The freezers will be used by fishers to produce ice that would extend the shelf life of fish and other agricultural products such as meat, Alcala said here on Friday.
He said the Department of Agriculture was also proposing the lending through BFAR of generators in villages with no electricity to operate freezers.
Alcala came up with the proposal after being asked in a press conference in this city on how the DA could help agricultural workers in areas in Masbate province, such as the towns of San Pascual and Claveria on Burias Island, where electricity is either scarce or absent so fishers could produce ice to preserve fish.
But Alcala was quick to point out that electrification, which is the concern of the Department of Energy, is the solution to the problem.
Earlier, San Pascual Mayor Job Willard Rivera rued about his town’s inability to engage in meat processing and extending shelf life of fish because of the power supply problem in Burias Island, which prevents production of ice.
Alcala also said that roadmaps for island-provinces in the country such as Masbate to achieve self-sufficiency were being worked on by the DA.
“But before Masbate can achieve that, it must first address its peace and order problem. All else will follow,” Alcala said.
He said part of the roadmap would be the establishment of the Central Philippines Development Program, which would include Masbate and other provinces in Bicol, Region 4-A (Calabarzon), Region 4-B (Mimaropa) and the Visayas.
“Before the end of the first quarter, we are hoping that the World Bank would lend $300 million for the development program,” said Alcala.
He said that as part of the no-dole policy of the DA, each local government that would be part of the program would be required to provide 10 percent counterpart funds.
The DA, according to Alcala, will take care of the remaining allocation on the condition that a local government should submit a proposal on how it would use the funds allotted for agricultural development.
Alcala was in Masbate on Friday with agriculture executives in Bicol to turn over P22 million worth of agriculture projects, farm equipment, and other agricultural goods to farmers and fisherfolk in the island-province.
Randomly given where hand tractors, flatbed dryers, palay threshers, and a corn sheller. Also turned over were 11,000 sets of assorted vegetable seeds for backyard planting.