"The town's cool climate makes it ideal for farmers in the area to grow vegetables. With this, the DA High Value Commercial Crops program would like to expand vegetable production in the area," Chio said.
Chio said that aside from providing quality seeds, the vegetable expansion program will provide farmers postharvest facilities such as hauling trucks and stackable crates for farmers to maintain quality of their produce as well as reduce postharvest losses.
To make transporting of vegetable easier, Chio said DA in collaboration with the local government unit is planning to establish farm-to-market roads along major vegetable producing barangays in Maragusan.
He added that the DA-Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) is currently validating the need to establish tramline facility.
According to BPRE, tramline is an upland farm agricultural hauling facility that is composed of cables, pulleys, cart or carrier, posts, powerhouse and loading/unloading platforms.
It connects the farm to the nearest road by the mountain slope. From the road, farm inputs like fertilizer is loaded and transported to the farm.
On the way back from the farm to the road, vegetable produce is hauled.
Chio also said DA will be working on the establishment of bagsakan centers in areas where Maragusan farmers usually deliver their produce such as Nabunturan, Tagum City, and Davao City.
Chio said the vegetable expansion program is part of DA's five-pillar program to build the environment for farmers' profitability.
"The DA's role is to create an environment for agricultural growth, to sustain this, we urge our farmers to get involved and organized so that we can collectively address their needs," Chio said.
