GINGOOG City Mayor Erick Cañosa said his administration would allot P150 million every year for the agricultural sector.

In his first State of the City Address (SOCA) on Thursday, December 12, Cañosa described agriculture as the city's untapped potential.

He announced his plans to build a P45-million agricultural complex and an agricultural trading and processing center in the city.

The agricultural complex will benefit farmers as it will allow active trading of agricultural products in a regular market at a competitive price within the city.

"From P28 million each year from the previous administration, we will increase the agriculture budget to P150 million every year starting January. Kini naglangkob sa crops, fishery, livestock, and poultry production," Cañosa said.

Some P40 million will be poured for dairy production and another allocation for the construction of a chocolate factory in the city.

The chocolate factory, he said, will be a byproduct of the cacao production that he aims to develop. The project will benefit some 600 farmers.

"We should open our doors sa new investments sa Gingoog, kinahanglan ang gobyerno sa usa ka syudad, open ang doors alang sa mga investors. Dili pud basta-basta musulod ang investors kung dili ingana kataas ilang kumpyansa sa leadership so maybe sa atong liderato, nakagain sila ug trust and confidence," he added.

(We should open our doors to new investments in Gingoog, the city government need to open doors for those investors. They will not easily invest if they do not have high confidence in a leadership, so maybe in my administration, they gain trust and confidence.)

In the next three years, Cañosa vowed to implement his administration's program called GOLD, which stands for good and righteous governance, opportunities in agriculture, livelihood and delivery of services for health, and education and social services.