LAGAWE, Ifugao– It’s about time for farmers in the capital town of Lagawe to adopt farm mechanization practices as a means of increasing their agricultural production.
Regarding the goal of attaining a higher harvest output of farmlands here, technology transfer programs are needed to assist farmers in improving their technical capability of increasing yields of rice.
Barangays Poblacion South and Poblacion East are key areas in Lagawe where vast rice fields are found in the town proper. However, farm mechanization is still a dream.
Farm income in these villages holds a very significant percentage of the aggregate value of goods for those in Lagawe. This fourth-class municipality is dependent on agriculture.
Agricultural products are responsible for more than half of Lagawe’s yearly income. Rice is the most valuable crop.
Due to lack of adequate post-harvest facilities, Lagawe is merely giving away wide-range of opportunities to upgrade its agricultural production. For instance, one thing that consumes time and effort of farmer-beneficiaries in these two villages is drying palay stocks in streets and other major thoroughfares.
Punong Barangay Christopher Pagaddut of Poblacion South has focused his attention over the years on the construction of farm-to-market roads.
“We have to construct more farm-to-market roads in certain areas of our barangay in which rice and vegetables are grown,” he said.
In an interview after reviewing the barangay council’s program on agriculture in the last three years, Punong Barangay Pagaddut said he would look into the needs of farmers in the remaining months of 2017.
“Ultimately, you have to make sure that farmers’ needs are well attended. So we are going actually and rightly in that direction and we are already implementing various programs and projects for them,” he said.
A stumbling block to the realization of farm mechanization here as well as in most villages in Ifugao is the low expenditures of municipal governments on agriculture.
**By Anthony A. Araos
