GENERAL TRIAS CITY, Cavite –– Some 109 urban farmers are among the recipients of around PHP1.512 million in funds under the City Agriculture Office’s (CAO) “Plant Now, Pay Later” (PNPL) agricultural development program during Wednesday’s distribution ceremony at the demonstration farm in Barangay Pinagtipunan here.
Under the PNPL scheme, the city government, through the CAO, allocates some PHP8,000 per hectare seed money with zero interest.
During the turnover ceremony, City Mayor Antonio Ferrer assured that the city government would continue to support the program for the welfare of local farmers and the agriculture industry in the city.
He also thanked the “endless support” of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 4-A to the city’s urban farmers.
Since its inception as a city government undertaking in 2002, the PNPL program has expanded and its zero-interest loan to urban farmers, which has progressively increased every year by almost 35 percent.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako sampu ng aking mga kapwa magsasaka sa patuloy na suporta ng lokal na pamahalaan sa magbubukid. Ito po ay napakahalagang tulong sa aming magbubukid (My fellow farmers and I thank the local government for their continuing support to us. This is a very valuable support to us as farmers),” Dante Collantes, local farmer-beneficiary from Barangay Pasong Kawayan II said.
CAO head Nerie Marquez said the “borrowing scheme” for the two Kubota SPW486 rice transplanters could mechanize rice planting at four lines in one sweep per equipment.
Marquez said the farmer could just operate the equipment and walk behind it while accelerating the rice planting to only two hours and 40 minutes per hectare, thus minimizing manpower cost.
The city farmers’ cooperatives also received 20 units of grass cutters, which would also minimize the labor force requirements.
The City Agriculture Office also spearheaded the tree planting of some 500 seedlings of the fruit bearing mango and mabolo trees in the former city dumpsite now being transformed as reforestation site in Barangay Tapia here.
She said CAO personnel and City Councilor Gary Grepo, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Agriculture, led the tree planting activities with the support of volunteers. (Dennis Abrina/PNA)
