THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental will ask the support of the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Western Visayas for the proposed "Rice and Road" project.
A resolution approving and endorsing the project to RDC-Western Visayas has been passed by the Provincial Council during its regular session last week.
Second District Board Member Salvador Escalante Jr., chairman of the committee on appropriations, budget and finance, said the province seeks for the inclusion of the project to the DA's Special Area for Agricultural Development (Saad) program.
Escalante said the Provincial Development Council (PDC), through an Executive Committee resolution, has requested the approval and endorsement of the Council for funding at the regional level.
"Considering that it would help especially in ensuring food security in the province, we are supporting the project," he added.
The "Rice and Road" project is an initiative of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), one of the private sector members of the PDC.
The concept of the project involves the entire agriculture sector not only rice but also vegetables and other high-value crops.
It also entails accessibility, like roads, that will quickly connect production areas to the trading posts and markets.
MBCCI chief executive officer Frank Carbon, chair of the PDC's Infrastructure Development Committee, on Sunday, October 14, reiterated that they are pushing for the realization of the project in the bid to make Negros vegetable-sufficient mainly by integrating the island's major food production areas.
The integration of food production areas, mainly for vegetables, of the two Negros provinces has already been proposed at the RDC of the then abolished Negros Island Region (NIR).
For Negros Occidental, Barangays Codcod and Quezon in San Carlos City are among the potential vegetable production areas of the province.
In Negros Oriental, these are Canlaon City and Vallehermoso town.
Carbon said the Council’s approval is the requirement of RDC-Western Visayas for it to endorse the project to the DA, specifically for the agency to include in its National Expenditures Program (NEP).
"We need the support of the DA especially in terms of additional infrastructure and technology like good agricultural practices," he said, adding the Provincial Government can now appropriate funds for its counterpart like the development of provincial roads including those from farm to trading posts and national roads.
Once included in the Saad program of the DA, the agency might instead fund the needed farm to trading post roads.
In terms of technology, the DA can also provide agricultural equipment like chiller and refrigerated vans among its trading posts.
Carbon said these interventions will efficiently reduce wastes and costs in transporting the products, especially vegetables.
It will not only improve the income of farmers but also result in a vegetable-sufficient island capable of supplying outside markets like Cebu and Manila, Carbon said.
Currently, about 80 percent of the province's vegetable consumption is sourced out from Mindanao mainly Bukidnon, Leon in Iloilo, and La Trinidad in Benguet.
"We will not grow as a province if our products will only circulate within the region," he said, adding that "if we get revenue outside then there is a better opportunity for the economy to grow."
MBCCI has already sent copies of the sample of the Council resolution and PDC endorsement to its counterpart in Negros Oriental, which will also do the same "measures" to realize the project.
For Negros Occidental, it has yet to make a "need assessment" in order to create a program management plan.
Carbon said they need first to determine to actual needs of the market and farmers. Through its approval, the Council can already allocate funding for the said assessment.