The Province of Batangas received P272.5 million worth of interventions from the Department of Agriculture (DA) to scale up its agriculture sector that has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the African swine fever virus.
During a visit to Batangas on August 28, Agriculture Secretary William Dar inspected the DA’s triple “A” slaughterhouse project at Tanauan City and the egg processing and chicken manure composting facilities at the “Egg Basket” town of San Jose.
During the secretary’s ocular inspection, he announced that the DA, through the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) will allot P50 million to expand the first government-owned AAA slaughterhouse to be multifunctional and include cutting facilities for poultry.
Another P50 million will be given for the improvement of Tanauan City’s Trading Center, which is located near the newly constructed slaughterhouse.
“With your province’s proximity to Metro Manila, you can cater to food requirements of the highly urbanized region,” Dar said.
In San Jose, which is a major livestock and poultry producing town, the DA has allotted P20 million funding for livestock and cattle feedlot fattening. The DA and NMIS will also provide P50 million for a cutting facility to strengthen the town’s Batangas Egg Producers’ Cooperative (BEPCO) and help its poultry stakeholders.
In addition, the department will assist the cooperative in establishing an integrated closed-loop system in the value chain by setting up a multiplier breeding facility and other interventions to be led by the Calabarzon Regional Field Office (RFO).
Regional Director Arnel De Mesa also awarded P2.5 million for BEPCO and Chef Jose, a consortium of cooperatives in San Jose and RFO’s partner for the DA’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita, to improve its marketing activities.
Secretary Dar noted that due to the pandemic, about 35 percent of farmers were not able to market their produce and many were affected because of the problems in logistics and movement of food supplies.
“In spite of the pandemic, the agriculture sector grew, because we have the farming and fishing communities doing their job in spite of all the health and quarantine hassles. During this visit in Tanauan and San Jose, we have seen these factors that we need to elevate and set up,” Secretary Dar said.
The funding for the Tanauan Trading Post will help improve food supply logistics in the province and other parts of the region.
Secretary Dar also approved P50 million budget for cold storages proposed by the provincial local government for the establishment of production areas in Ibaan, Batangas.
Another P50-million investment will be allocated for the Regional Integrated Agricultural Research Center in Lipa City.
“We have enough food supplies. Let us elevate the productivity of various commodities through collective action,” Secretary Dar said noting that the country can improve its food-sufficiency level. ### (Gumamela Bejarin, DA-AFID)
