IN LINE with Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr.’s food sufficiency program, the Provincial Government will buy 100 heads of Brahman Hiefer cattle in Saranggani for its cattle breeding program.
The purchase will be made after the Provincial Board approved Supplemental Budget no. 5 amounting to P148 million, which among other provisions, allocated P9 million for the project.
Personnel from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and the Provincial Veterinary Office will go to Saranggani on Monday for the purchase of the cattle, which cost P28,000 each. The shipment of the cattle will cost P6,000 per head, according to Capitol employees.
Aside from the acquisition of the cattle, the Provincial Government will also purchase land in Don Salvador Benedicto for the breeding farm as well as construct the necessary infrastructure for the project.
Board member Salvador Escalante, chairman of the committee on finance, said that some of the projects included under the supplemental budget could be implemented next year.
He added that the projects proposals were already approved and is ready for implementation but, due to the pre-implementation ground work and the mandated compliance with auditing procedures, the actual project implementation will usually take two to three months.
Escalante said that most of the projects included under Supplemental Budget no. 4 were for the food security projects of the Provincial Government. The projects were intended to help the farmers recover from the long dry season brought about by the El Niño phenomenon. (Teresa Ellera-Dulla)