Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro

DA-NorMin releases P6-M for BUB projects

- By Jo Ann Sablad

THE Department of Agricultur­e-Northern Mindanao has released P6 million to fund four of the six agricultur­al projects of the Bottom-Up-Budgeting (BUB).

According to Assistant City Agricultur­ist Bart Fuentes of Agricultur­al Productivi­ty Office, the P6-million budget will be allocated to the four agricultur­al projects such as post-harvest facilities, which includes two corn shellers and a collapsibl­e dryer; boar-stud artificial inseminati­on center; community-based livestock production; and communityb­ased vegetable production.

Fuentes said the farmers in Cagayan de Oro City will be receiving 200 pigs, adding that these farmers will also be the beneficiar­ies of the boar-stud artificial inseminati­on center which will be establishe­d in Manresa Farm.

He also said that 200 farmers will also be receiving irrigation drip kit and vegetable seeds, and the two corn sheller and the collapsibl­e dryer will be placed in Barangay Pigsagan to be used by the farmers in the said barangay.

According to Jordan Ian Apat, City Poverty Reduction Action Center officer-incharge, the six agricultur­al projects proposed to and approved by the Department of Agricultur­e (DA) amounted to an estimated P22 million.

Apat said these projects, which were proposed and approved in 2015, are not yet establishe­d as of present as the requiremen­ts were not yet finished.

“Once na meron nang release, merong (Once there’s a release of funds, there will be a) certificat­ion of available funds. After that certificat­ion is released, procuremen­t process na yung gagawin, tapos (will be conducted, then) after the procuremen­t process which will take around a month, so doon magsisimul­a ang projects (that’s the time we can start the projects),” Apat said.

The City Poverty Reduction Action Center officerin-charge added that the P6 million given by the DA is the last one.

“Na completo na ang releases (The releases are already complete). Kasi yung (Because the) P6 million that was the initial, I think the rest, I think its released already,” Apat said.

Apat assured that the projects, which will benefit the farmers of the city, will be done as soon as possible and after the procuremen­t process, which will include the bidding process.

IN RESPONSE to the growing problem of bullfrog infestatio­n on the hito (catfish) hatchery in Los Amigos, Davao City, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Davao Region turned over nets and ropes that are 2,100 meters long to be installed as fence around the catfish ponds to avoid any more frogs from jumping in the waters.

According to Tres Hermanos Hatchery operator and grower doctor My Lady Rose F. Domingo, the problem on bullfrog infestatio­n started during the later months of 2015 and prospered until the early months of 2016. Domingo said that for the 2016 she, together with her fellow aquacultur­ist, thought of alternativ­e ways of eradicatin­g these bullfrogs such as mixing formalin solution in the pond. For a while, this had killed a few bullfrog tadpoles but had also started to kill hito fingerling­s which made Domingo stopped the practice.

They also tried the traditiona­l salt solution but it wasn’t as effective. On May 2017, she started to seek help from the BFAR Davao Regional Office.

Nylon nets and ropes were distribute­d on Tuesday, January 16, to about 210 hito growers under the Tres Hermanos Hatchery. They are each to receive 100 meters of nets and ropes which will be installed on the sides of the hito fry ponds in a leaning fashion facing outwards.

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