Governor calls for ‘adequate support and opportunities’ for farmers

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson called for “adequate support and opportunities for farmers” during this morning’s opening program of the 16th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival at the Negros Residences.

In advancing organic farming, Lacson asked, “How will organic farming affect food production? How will it impact the profitability of our farmers’ businesses?”

“These questions underscore the role of the government and stakeholders in providing adequate support and opportunities to our farmers. We need to empower and enable our farmers, making it our primary goal to enhance the market potential of our organic products,” the governor pointed out.

He said that this year’s celebration “encompasses multifaceted programs aimed at enhancing our knowledge, and methods, our dedication is crucial not just for the economic development of our island, but most of all, for the wellbeing of our communities, the mitigation of environmental destruction and the protection of the farmers, consumers and the general public.”

Lacson said that the provincial government initiated the Organic Farming program “to counteract the adverse impacts of diminishing natural resources.”

“The promotion of organic agriculture will cumulatively condition and enrich the fertility of the soil, increase farm productivity, reduce pollution and environmental destruction, prevent the depletion of natural resources, further protect the health of farmers, consumers and the general public and save on imported farm inputs,” he also said.

Bacolod Mayor Albee Benitez, on his part said the city “will promote food tourism as its tourism attraction.”

Benitez said the city government is ready to put up the needed infrastructure to host food producers in Bacolod.

On the other hand, Victorias City Mayor and Association of Chief Executives in Negros Occidental president Javier Miguel Benitez emphasized the importance of food security.

Benitez said organic agriculture’s economic, health, and environmental potentials are “tremendous and far-reaching.”

The Victorias mayor said that “if we listen to the discussions on food security, healthy living, and even food justice, the foreshadowing solutions to these worldwide concerns can be positively found in transforming our commercial-driven farming methods into organic agriculture.”

“With enough supply of organically and ethically produced food, we will be able to address issues on equal access to food, no matter the boundaries are, all over the world,” Benitez said.

Benitez has also urged the attendees to excite the youth to get into agriculture as a way of life, pointing out that farmers are getting older.

It also concerns him that the number of enrollees in agricultural schools are dwindling and the alarm on the future of the country’s agricultural sector should have been sounded already.

“In as much as we are talking about new and better approaches and practices in the industry, a more effective food security program, or even efficient agricultural land use, we must also bring the discussion on the future workforce of this sector,” Benitez said.

“We should make farming “cool, smart and sexy,” he said.

The festival will run until November 19 at the North Capitol Road in Bacolod.* (with Eugene Adiong)