DA, EDC partnership allots initial P92-M to develop ‘salad bowl’ in Leyte

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
December 28, 2011

TACLOBAN CITY  –  A 20,000-hectare area at Tongonan mountain range, straddling Ormoc City and municipality of Kananga, in the province of Leyte, will soon become a ‘salad bowl’ that will produce high value semi-temperate vegetables.

This, as the Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), other institutions and farmers’ groups, has set its eyes to make this development a reality.

Recently, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala led the signing of a memorandum of agreement at Tacloban City to implement a five-year initiative, called Agri-Pinoy integrated and diversified program for the development of the ‘OK’ upland range. OK refers collectively to Ormoc City and Kananga. The Tongonan mountain range is 500 to 800 meters above sea level.

The DA and EDC will jointly invest P92 million in the next five years to develop suitable areas surrounding the Leyte Geothermal Production Field (LGPF) to benefit 5,600 farmers, who are members of 23 farmers’ associations in Ormoc City and municipality of Kananga.

Secretary Alcala said the DA through the DA Region 8 office and National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) will assist farmers in the land preparation, cultivation, harvesting, processing, and marketing of vegetables and other high value commercial crops.

Currently, subsistence farmers at LGPF produce assorted vegetables and fruits like cabbage, green onion, tomato, eggplant, radish, chayote, cucumber (pipino), and pineapple. About five tons are harvested weekly and sold at public markets in Ormoc City and Kananga.

Under the five-year project, farmers will be encouraged to plant other fruit crops like durian, rambutan and Jackfruit, including coffee and abaca.

Aside from the DA and EDC, the other project partners are the Visayas Sate University (VSU) and the Partners Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PMPC), representing the 23 farmers’ associations, located in 16 villages or barangays surrounding the LGPF at the OK upland range.

The joint project will not only uplift farmers from poverty but more importantly transform them into entrepreneurs. It will benefit about 3,000 subsistence farm-families in seven villages in Kananga namely, Rizal, Hiluctogan, Montebello, Aguiting, Lim-ao, San Ignacio, and Tongonan; and nine villages in Ormoc City namely Milagro, Nueva Vista, Cabaon-an, Danao, Gaas, Liberty, Tongonan, Mahayahay, and Dolores.

During the MOA signing, Secretary Alcala underscored that the partnership will not only help in the production but also in the processing and marketing aspect of the project. He stressed the importance of economies of scale saying that the farmers can demand better prices if they have the volume of production.

Of the P92-M initial funding, the DA-NABCOR will share P29 million to establish a consolidation center and pilot packinghouse, and provide marketing support, said NABCOR president and CEO Honesto Baniqued, Jr.  Another P13 million is earmarked for research and development.

Baniqued said the project has five interlinked components that include a vegetable consolidation center and postharvest management assurance system, livestock with feedlot operation, marketing, environmental management, and manpower development as a sustainability mechanism.

“We at the DA-NABCOR aim to help transform the Ormoc-Kananga range into a major vegetable growing area in Eastern Visayas, which can later diversify into producing other high value horticultural crops such as cutflowers and fruits.

Similar initiatives are undertaken by the DA under the leadership of Secretary Alcala to develop a modern wholesale marketing and processing center in La Trinidad, Benguet, and a major vegetable production and processing cluster at Dupax del Sur in Nueva Vizcaya, Baniqued said.

For its part, PNOC-EDC will provide a total of P50M top finance farming activities, at P10 million each year from 2012 to 2016.

“We are committed to sustain this corporate social responsibility initiative. Many people in the upland range are still poor. Our main concern is help the farmers on the marketing aspect,” said Emiliano Argoncillo, head of the EDC community partnership department.

The Leyte Geothermal Power Fields is the country’s largest producer of geothermal energy, with a capacity at more than 700 megawatts (MW). The area covers a total of 107,625 hectares along the Tongonan mountain range.