Farmers from the different municipalities of Benguet convened for the Farmer’s Day cum Capability Building on November 18, 2017 at the Benguet Cold Chain Grounds, Wangal, La Trinidad, Benguet.
Said event is an initiative of the Department of Agriculture CAR in partnership with the province of Benguet as one of the highlights of the yearly celebration of the Benguet Foundation Anniversary and to provide a venue to discuss the issues and concerns in the agriculture industry of the province.
In line with the theme of the ‘Adivay’ pertaining to sustaining cultural identity, Dr. Cameron Odsey, Department of Agriculture RTD for Research and Regulatory talked about sustainable agriculture. He added that if there’s someone who knows very well the land, it is the farmers.
Dr. Odsey is hoping that the benefits our farmers are experiencing now will continue to multiply a hundred fold in the coming years. He challenged the farmer’s with a question; “is the benefits we are getting in our land today equate with the benefits for our children’s tomorrow?” He then encouraged the farmers not to rely on pesticides, insecticide and commercially produced fertilizers to counter problems in the field of agriculture such as insect pest infestations.
He further discussed on the programs of the Department of Agriculture that would help the farmers in sustaining agriculture like the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Organic Agriculture, crop programming, and agro-forestry like planting of trees for the watershed to sustain the gardens.
“With these challenges, the DA-CAR is at your back to help you with our various programs that you can avail”, he added.
On the other hand, Jerry Damoyan, Supervising Senior Agriculturist of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) also talked on the marketing support and program of the department to achieve the government’s bid to make food available and affordable for all. Programs include market promotion through trade fairs like ‘tienDA’ and ‘tiangge’ sa DA, establishing market linkages, market facilities like Organic Trading post, Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center, Bagsakan Center and Barangay Food Terminals. Farmers can also avail of the financial assistance through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council like Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) and Program for Unified Lending to Agriculture (PUNLA), Damoyan ended.**Rebecca Dibdiben
