Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Sec. Martin Andanar praised the food security program of Bohol after learning the various programs of the Bohol provincial government from Gov. Arthur Yap himself.
Andanar and Yap were engaged in a radio interview via Zoom on Friday, June 19, 2020 and aired via the radio network of Radyo Pilipinas.
Andanar said that he is sure that the Department of Agriculture (DA) as well as the Boholanos are very excited about the programs.
Later in the interview, Andanar expressed his desire to visit Bohol and he for himself the implementation of the various programs of the provincial government.
Incidentally, Andanar traces his roots to Garcia-Hernandez town, as he revealed to the Bohol media in an interaction back in 2018.
The governor reiterated the need to focus on food security amid the uncertainty of the situation amid the Covid pandemic and perhaps the future of the province under the so-called “new normal”.
In the interview, Yap said Bohol is not a province with vast tracts of land suitable for agriculture.
Thus, he said, there is a need to get as much yield from the available lands used in agriculture.
He mentioned about the Advanced Rice Technology (ART) 120 program as a means to improve agriculture yield using certified inbred seeds. The goal, the governor said is to produce 120 cavans per hectare under the program.
In irrigated areas, the program is called ART 160, where the goal is to produce 160 cavans per hectare with the use of hybrid seeds.
To support the livestock and aquaculture industry, the governor said focus is being placed on corn production. About 15,009 hectares of land is being used for corn production for feeds to be used in livestock and aquamarine industries.
Yap understands the role of the feeds industry in the growth of the livestock and aquamarine industry in the province.
To address the fish supply, Yap said the province is looking at converting idle rice lands into fish ponds. About 1,000 hectares of idle rice lands are eyed to be converted into fish ponds with adequate support from the provincial government.
Furthermore, the provincial government is giving priority on various water projects in order to boost vegetable production.
“We are looking at communal (irrigation) systems all over the province,” Yap bared.
The provincial government took the responsibility of starting projects involving the increase in water supply as Bohol could no longer wait for private investors to invest in water projects.
He revealed that private investors are not keen on investing resources to develop water systems in agricultural areas.
Moreover, Yap said the boost in agricultural activities will ensure food supply sufficiency regardless of what will happen in the future amid the effort to combat the spread of the Covid virus.
SPECIAL ATTENTION
TO CORN PRODUCTION
Malacañan further learned during the Yap-Andanar interview, which was also carried live on the governor’s facebook account, of the governor’s special atention to corn production.
This, he said, is intended to locally manufacture feeds for livestock and poultry.
A National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) data shows Bohol has only one percent of its agriculture sector producing corn.
“If our feeds industry is low, the livestock industry of Bohol can hardly make it big,” the governor said.
At their Capitol meeting the other week, Yap told some farm cooperatives he would initially mechanize about 16,000 hectares of cornfields.
FISH INDUSTRY
Yap acknowledged the problem pertaining to the aggressive fish wholesalers and distributors from Cebu who buy fish catch from Bohol.
In Cebu, these fish products from Bohol are consolidated and “reexported” back to Bohol.
The governor said the provincial government is, thus, likewise giving attention to fishponds.
“We have 3,000-4,000 hectares of fishponds that are idle right now in Bohol,” Yap told Andanar, himself of Boholano root.
Since many operators cannot afford to mechanize and provide for their own fingerlings, the governor said the province will assist about 1,000 hectares of fishponds.
VEGETABLES FOR NUTRITION
“We like to also increase vegetables for nutrition. This cannot be possible without water. We’re looking at the communal systems right now all over the province,” Yap said.
Over the week, the governor visited the community vegetable production project introduced by a Chinese investor group to the Eskaya tribe in the uplands of Sierra-Bullones.
With its technology transferred to the industrious indigenous people, Yap saw the good prospect of the farm becoming a Bohol model in community commercial-scale vegetable production.
Yap also visited two farm-to-table projects on tourist Panglao island cultivated by the private partners in the food security program of the province.
The first is the 2,000-square-meter farm of couple Emmanuel and Eveline Gamonez across the Bellevue Pavilion in barangay Doljo.
They grow organic vegetables using naturally-decomposed materials for soil conditioning, shredding garbage from households and turning them into soil conditioning materials.
The couple also provides basic early education to children of informal settlers in the neighborhood whose parents are their partners in the project
The other belongs to the South Palms Resort, which develops nine hectares into the South Farm out of its of 60-hectare property in barangay Bolod.
As COVID-19 pandemic dampened the tourism industry, the agriculture sector has accommodated the retrenched workers from the resorts to engage in recycling garbage for soil nutrient and cultivation of vegetables. (with reports from PRIMER Bohol)