Capitol to maximize agri aid for farmers

THE Cebu provincial government will source funds and training from the national government and foreign agencies to provide assistance to the province’s farmers.

The Provincial Board (PB) ordered the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office to apply for funding and training programs to the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) after learning that the province failed to do so in the past few years.

Melita Labarejos of the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) said they were discouraged by former governor Gwendolyn Garcia to partake in the national government’s agriculture programs.

“The former governor didn’t want us to apply for the national projects because we don’t have much control over its implementation. We instead used provincial funds for the purpose,” Labarejos told the PB in yesterday’s budget hearing.

“The provincial government was silent and did not avail of those programs when in fact it is our right to claim that money because its funding was also coming from our revenue here,” she added.

Even the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) failed to strike a deal with Garcia on a particular agriculture project in the past, Labarejos said.

PB member Peter John Calderon first noted the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office “lack of coordination” with the DA in Central Visayas and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) during yesterday’s budget deliberation.

He said the province should not hesitate in availing of the agriculture programs offered by the national government which is focused on raising crop production in southern Cebu.

The Provincial Agriculturist’s Office proposed a P43-million budget outlay for its operations next year which includes the Farmer Scientists Training Program (FSTP), distribution of seedlings, growing of livestock and providing equipment to fisher folk among others.

The province’s agricultural sector will also receive another P48 million to fund projects specified in the provincial government’s 2014 Annual Investment Plan (AIP).

Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero, head of the PB’s committee on budget and appropriations said all departments will now be encouraged to avail of programs from the national government. Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos