DINALUPIHAN, Bataan — Mayor Maria Angela “Gila” Garcia of this only land-locked town in the province on Tuesday announced three big projects that will directly benefit some 3,000 farmers here.
“The programs will also have an impact and improve the overall healthy lifestyle of more than 110,000 residents in 46 barangays of our first class municipality,” the mayor said.
She said that Dinalupihan is more of an agricultural and not an industrial town so the need to raise the quality of life in agriculture, hence: “This is part of our vision of turning our town a model “agropolis” by 2020 or a community focused on agriculture, food, biodiversity and environment.”
The programs are the building of an Agro-Inotech Center, embarking on agri-tourism, and the training of farmers through the SM Foundation.
The Agro-Inotech Center will be built in the town under the private-public-partnership (PPP) scheme between the provincial government of Bataan and an Israeli company.
The center will be equipped with satellites and modern gadgets to monitor pest problems, soil, climate, irrigation and other field-related concerns. Under the PPP is the use of hydroponics to produce high-quality vegetables which will be ongoing this year, the mayor added.
Farmers, she said, will not only be trained in production but that she has already talked with big buyers to assure a ready market for the produce.
Garcia said they will start in a one-hectare hydroponics system and four-hectare green farm with the use of drift irrigation where “hopefully, we can produce 2.5 million lettuce heads so we can also contribute to the food sufficiency program of the Philippines.”
She said their target was to involve 100 hectares under the project where farms will be monitored from planting until harvest to marketing.
For farm or agri-tourism, Tourism Region 3 director Carol Uy recently committed to prioritize funding and making Dinalupihan as a pilot area, the mayor said.
“We want our town to be a rural tourism attraction and hope to involve most of the 3,500 hectares of agricultural lands under the program,” she said. There will be farm schools in the area, areas for capacity-building and trained tour guides.
The third project covered the training of 100 farmers in Barangay Pagalanggang, courtesy of the SM Foundation. They will be guided on what to plant and have a ready market linkage with SM for their produce.
“All these programs will be a convergence of efforts of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Social Welfare and Development and DOT, among some other agencies,” Garcia said.
Dinalupihan is ideally located in the center of Zambales, Pampanga, and Bataan.
