Agri dept to study PH vegetable consumption

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Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol told he has directed Undersecretary for Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service ( AMAS) Jose Gabriel M. La Viña to supervise the study that will determine Filipino consumers’ rate of vegetable consumption.

The study also aims to name vegetable production areas in the country, which the DA must focus on with regard to allocating funds to help farmers bring down production cost, he added.

“We have to project how much vegetables are being consumed by this country so that we would know what areas we can focus on as source of quality vegetables which can also be exported as we move along,” said Piñol.

Once completed, Pinol said the study will be used by the DA

- duction Master Plan. Such plan,

table vegetables by 2024. ish the review “as soon as possible” as the agency tries to enable local vegetables to be exported by next year. “There is a lot of market for our vegetables,” the secretary said.

To do this, the DA is looking at “reviving” the vegetable industry in Mindanao, particularly the farms in four mountain towns of Bukidnon—Impasugong, Talakag, Sumilao and Lantapan.

“The truth is, the Impasugong, Talakag, Sumilao and Lantapan, which we now call IMTASULA vegetable complex, is capable of producing all vegetables the country needs,” said Piñol.

He emphasized that Talakag itself has 94,000 hectares (ha) of land, 11,000 has. of which are for vegetable production. Pinol added: “An estimated 50,000 hectares of rich fertile lands in Bukidnon ideal for vegetable farming has

Meanwhile, the agriculture chief said Bukidnon can be the country’s next vegetable basket after Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region which is frequently battered by typhoons.

Piñol was quick to add, however, that the DA is doing its best to help farmers in typhoon-hit areas. He said the DA is “giving all efforts” to provide assistance to farmers, particularly rice and vegetable growers, through farm mechanization and easy access to

For 2019, the DA has allotted P3.5 billion for easy access loan

borrow up to P50,000 at an interest rate of six percent a year without collateral.

take time to make an impact and