Ilog, Negros Occidental (Sept. 28 – Late Post) – It came as a big surprise to me to find out that the town of Ilog, one of the six areas in a region called CHICKS, had never ever seen a shadow of an Agriculture Secretary.
So excited were the people of Ilog that their mayor, Genaro Rafael Alvarez, declared September 28, 2017 as a Day to Remember for the town’s farmers and fisher folks.
During the half-day engagement with farmers and fisher folks in the Face-to-Face Forum of Biyaheng Bukid, the problems which beset them for so many years flowed out like water bursting from a dam.
Farm to Market Roads, irrigation services, machineries and tools, modern farming technology and most of all, easy access to credit.
The poor farmers told me that for every P1,000 that they borrow from community lenders, they pay back P1,000 plus an interest of three cavans of palsy valued at about P3,000.
The oppression does not end there. Local grains traders buy their produce at very low prices, lower by at least P6 per kilo than the buying price in Luzon and Mindanao.
Responding to their appeal for help, I committed a P30-M lending facility for each of the six local government units’ farmers and fisher folks.
The CHICKS region is composed of Candoni, Hinobaan, Ilog, Cauayan, Kabankalan and Sipalay and is known as a redoubt of the Communist New People’s Army (NPA).
In addition to that, machineries were also released and additional units will be allocated for the six areas in the 2018 budget.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) also distributed fishing boats and other fish equipment.
Fifty fiberglass fishing boats were allocated for each of the coastal towns of the whole Negros Occidental Province.
Before I left, I promised the people of Ilog and the CHICKS area that I will be back to check if the interventions provided by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have changed their lives.
(Photos by Larry Nuestro, DA-AFID)
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