AROUND 200 durian farmers received their two sacks of Yara Complete Fertilizer distributed by the Davao City Agriculturist’s Office (CAgrO) on April 11, 2024.
The durian-producing districts of Baguio, Tugbok, and Calinan are the recipients of the free fertilizer. Durian farmers in these areas have completed the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program and have been farm-coded by the Bureau of Plant Industry – Plant Quarantine Services (BPI-PQS).
Members of the City Farm Nursery Compound, chaired by DIADC President Mr. Emmanuel Belviz, in Malagos, participated in a ceremonial turnover program to receive the fertilizer.
CAgrO said that providing free fertilizer to durian farmers is one of the initiatives aimed at helping them by defraying some of their production costs.
This is in connection with China's increased demand for durian following the signing of a bilateral deal for the city to directly provide fresh durian to China.
A total of 469 farmers in the city manage 485 farms that have already been coded by the BPI-PQS and submitted to the People's Republic of China's General Administration of Customs (GACC).
Last January, CAgrO said they will continue strengthening their programs that provide free planting materials to farmers not just durian seedlings but major fruits that support the agricultural sector in the city.
Based on the report from January to December 2023, a total of 220,829 seedlings of durian, cacao, coffee, lanzones, rambutan, and other fruit-bearing trees produced in its Central Farm Nursery were evenly distributed to 9,837 Dabawenyo farmers.
Meanwhile, at least 6,636 vegetable seedlings from the office’s Marfori Garden were given to organic practitioners, while 137 kilograms of vegetable seeds from the Department of Agriculture (DA) were given to 20 farmers’ associations in the city which benefited over 500 farmers. DEF
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