FOOD security will not be a concern amid development of Davao City into becoming Metro Davao based from the urban development plan prepared by a private architectural firm, a government official said.
Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) secretary Datu Abul Khayr Dangcal Alonto underscored the importance of maintaining agricultural lands in Davao even with the plans of urbanization.
Alonto said part of the Metro Davao Urban Development Plan is ensuring food supply for every Dabawenyo in the city.
“Part of the urban development as well is securing agro-economic zones to be established to further instill and entice agricultural development for the whole of Mindanao,” Alonto said in a media forum on Metro Davao Urban Development Plan at Casa Leticia Hotel, Davao City.
Engineer Froilan Rigor of the Davao City Planning and Development Office said laws are enforced to make sure that agricultural lands being converted in the city into commercial and industrial spaces are regulated and governed.
“In terms of food security, we are actually bounded by a memorandum circulated by HLURB (Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board) to only convert 15 percent of our agricultural land. So therefore, you cannot just convert agricultural lands anytime you want. For now, Davao City, based from its current urbanization pattern, has already converted almost 15 percent. Therefore, we cannot go beyond what the law says,” Rigor said, adding the reason is to balance development both the rural and urban side of Davao City.
Palafox Associates managing partner, founder, and principal architect-urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. said they have already planned in setting different centers of development in Davao region to also cater in securing food security throughout the region.
Rigor said barangays like Calinan, Mintal, and Toril can be good agricultural development centers.