LA TRINIDAD, Benguet– The municipal council approved on third reading a proposed ordinance establishing a support program for vegetable and cutflower farmers affected by oversupply and non-demand in times of pandemics and epidemics, providing guidelines for the purpose and appropriating funds for the same.
The ordinance authored by Councilors Nestor Fongwan, Jr., Renato Tereng and Guilier Galwan stated that the support program will be activated whenever a pandemic or epidemic is declared by concerned authorities.
Under the proposed ordinance, qualified farmers to be granted the financial assistance should have a farm located in the municipality, must be registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), and crops must be registered with the office of the municipal agriculturist.
Fongwan claimed that when oversupply and non-demand occurs, the municipal agriculture office shall be implement the program where the farmers will bring their produce to the designated storage and staging area; concerned personnel shall inspect the produce and determine what should be bought and shall process the voucher for payment; farmers will benefit from the program only once every epidemic or pandemic, for vegetables, the local government shall pay 60 percent of the production cost per kilo but not to exceed P20,000, for cutflowers, the local government shall pay 50 percent of the cost of production at maturity per dozen but not to exceed P20,000; the office in charge shall cause the free distribution of the vegetable and cutflowers to those in need and shall likewise look for possible markets and other linkages.
He added that the program shall exist until appropriated funds are exhausted because of the numerous farmers that will benefit from the grant of the financial assistance.
The ordinance stipulated that the amount of P1.5 million shall be appropriated in the annual budget of the municipality to fund the implementation of the support program for vegetable and cutflower farmers from the different parts of the locality where P1 million will be dedicated as assistance to vegetable farmers and P500,000 will be allocated for the same initiative for cutflower farmers.
Fongwan emphasized that majority of the 16 barangays in the municipality are devoted to agriculture and large volume of highland vegetables and cutflowers are grown, harvested and traded year-round.
According to him, it has been observed that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about instances where over supply of vegetables occurred in the trading centers located in the capital town causing heavy losses to the farmers who either opt to sell their produce at very low prices or end up throwing their products away.
Fongwan said that the measure aims to assist the farmers in the municipality in trading their vegetable or cutflower produce in times of pandemic and epidemic that bring about over supply and non-demand of vegetables and cutflowers.
Aside from vegetables, La Trinidad is one of the major producers of cutflowers being traded inside and outside the province year-round. By HENT