THE City Government of Davao, through the City Agriculturist’s Office (CAgrO), continues to provide assistance to Dabawenyo farmers to support production and marketing.
Fe Oguio, CAgrO’s Durian and Cacao Focal Person, said various support services for farmers are available not only in their main office but also in the district offices.
“Ang core function sa City Agriculturist’s Office to provide technical assistance, provide training, capability building sa mga farmers (The core function of the City Agriculturist’s Office is to provide farmers with technical assistance, training, and other capability building seminars),” she said in an interview with the City Information Office.
Planting materials are also available for farmers through the city’s nursery.
The office also coordinates with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and other agencies that can provide more assistance and services for the farmers in the city.
Oguio added that the CAgrO also helps assist in bridging farms to market.
“Mao gyud ang need sa atoang farmers, so dapat dili lang kay we are after the production. Dapat linking them with the market kay para makita nila nga naa’y opportunity, there’s income (That’s what our farmers need, we can’t just be after the production. We have to connect them to the market so that they’ll see that there are a lot of market opportunities, and income will be generated),” she said.
Oguio also said that Davao farmers greatly benefited from the export market not only in terms of income but also in reducing risks of oversupply of fruits.
“Definitely ang nagbenefit sa atoang export market is ang farmers kay nagharvest na ang atoang local karon. Kung wala ta’y export ningbaha na’g maayo pud sa local market ang production which is dili pud siya maayo kay daghan masayang nga produkto (Definitely, the farmers benefited from the export market especially now during the harvest season of our local farms. If we didn’t have the export market, there will be an oversupply in our local market which is also not good because a lot of produce might go to waste),” she said.
CAgrO calls on Dabawenyo farmers to reach out to their district offices for technical assistance and support, including farm machineries and pesticides. CIO