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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Transfer of agri dep't central office to spur dev't
THE impending transfer of the Department of Agriculture (DA) head office to Davao City would spur development in the city, from education down to agriculture.
Secretary Rodolfo del Rosario, Presidential Adviser on Government Centers, said Monday that since Mindanao is regarded as the country's food basket, it is commendable that the DA would have its office installed in the island-region.
"If DA would have its central office here, then it will be able to concentrate more on how to develop the region. The chances is 50-50, but with the approval of Mayor (Rodrigo) Duterte and Agriculture Secretary (Arthur) Yap, I'm pretty sure that the proposal will push through," he said.
Del Rosario said that if the proposal would be implemented, Davao City should build more school buildings for the children of the Manila-based employees of DA; more consumers would buy the products of the city, thus, more income is generated; and Davao City would become an experiment station for the latest technology in farming.
"We can ask other countries to come here and help us on how to develop further our agriculture industry. We can ask Thailand perhaps. What we only need to focus as of now is how to put more added value to our raw materials. Mas malaki kasi ang profit kung na-process na ang isang produkto, for example, gawing banana chips ang cardaba," he said.
The head office of DA would be transferred at the old Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) building in Mintal.
"Mas madali na talaga ang paglilipat kasi may malilipatan na. 'Yan ang sabi ko talaga sa kanila na it's okay na magtransfer as long sa may lugar na, may building at lupa na. As of now, austerity measure tayo, so we really don't have the money to build a new office and purchase a lot for an office," he said. (JMM)
(December 15, 2004 issue)
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