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Friday, November 05, 2004
Agri center to entice farmers to plant again
FARMERS in the municipalities of Cebu, as well as those from the Visayas and Mindanao, will soon have a place in the city to wholesale their produce to middlemen.
The proposed “bagsa-kan center” of the Man-daue City government will also encourage farmers, especially those who have left their farmlands and lived in Mandaue City as squatters, to till their lands again, Man-daue City Mayor Teddy Ouano said.
“There are more than 13,000 squatters in Mandaue. Most of them are farmers.
“With the bagsakan center, they will return to their lands and farm because the center assures them of a place to sell their products. We need farmers and their products,” he told business reporters last week.
Ouano described the P50-million “bagsakan center,” which will be constructed on a 4,000- square-meter lot owned by the Department of Agriculture (DA) at Ibabao, Mandaue City, as an agricultural trading center that will provide the farmers with an effective and efficient marketing linkage. It will be a venue where farmers can sell their products in accordance with a stipulated pricing scheme that ensures fair trade practices among farmers and consumers.
Farmers have been complaining of middlemen who buy their vegetable and fruit products at very low prices. They are forced to sell at low prices, as they do not have a place to stock their products, which mostly have short shelf lives.
Rooms
Ouano said the center will have storage areas to help extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. It will also have other facilities like parking areas, a weighing scale, comfort rooms, function rooms for meetings and conferences, and even quarters where the farmer-producers can stay for the night.
The center will also have a service center where training sessions on appropriate technologies can be conducted on a regular basis.
Funds
Ouano said Mandaue City is now raising funds for the construction of the center, which will be managed by a board composed of representatives from the Mandaue City government, the DA and the farmers.
“We have already presented the project to interested investors, both local and foreign,” he said.
The center’s income will come from the lease of stalls and parking areas by participating farmers or agricultural cooperatives. (JBN)
(November 5, 2004 issue)
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