THE City Government of Silay opened on June 4 the Agri-Aqua Trade Fair, one of the activities for its 61st Charter Anniversary celebration, positioned to further boost local farmers and fisherfolk.
Mayor Mark Andrew Arthur Golez, who led the opening ceremony at the city public plaza, said the trade fair is one way of showcasing the city's agricultural harvests, which are mostly grown in upland areas.
Golez recognized the big role of farmers and fisherfolk in ensuring food security in the city thus, the local government has been putting much support for their development.
"The city continues to initiate measures to boost those in the agriculture and fishery sector through one, always making them part of the charter celebration," he said, adding that "in terms of economic development, 70 percent of the businesses in Silay is purely agriculture and the livelihood of most residents are farming."
Now on its seventh year, the nine-day activity features various products of four farmers associations assisted by the City Agriculture Office through the Organic Trading Post, and individual fisherfolk from different coastal barangays of the locality.
The crop section showcases various processed food like "sinamak" and coco sugar, a wide variety of naturally-grown high-value commercial crops including vegetables, and roots crops.
The fishery section, on the other hand, displays seafood products like crab, shrimp, milkfish, and tilapia, among others.
The City Agriculture Office also tapped some ornamental plants and seedlings suppliers in the province to display their products at the trade fair.
Jo Ann Diosa, city agricultural technologist, said to ease the burden of farmers especially from the cost of transporting their products from their farms to the plaza, the city government bought their produce.
Diosa said it will now be the staff of the Organic Trading Post who will sell the products during the week-long trade fair thus, farmers are already assured of their income.
"Aside from showcasing the flourishing agriculture sector of Silay, the trade fair is also aimed at providing our farmers and fisherfolk the venue to earn more," she added.
Project turnover
The City Government also turned over Monday, June 4, about P2 million worth of projects under the bottom-up budgeting program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Three associations were given P957,600 worth of infrastructure support to agri-fishery production. Dorothea Farmers Integrated Association, San Vicente I Farmers Association, and Camantero Farmers Association each received one unit of power tiller.
Seven associations, on the other hand, received P1.07-million worth of postharvest facilities, specifically one unit each of hand tractors.
These are Cabal-ong Farmers Association, Lupa Pamanaag Farmers Irrigators Association, Nacayao Small Farmers Association, Violeta Palay Check Farmers Association, Nacayao Barangay Captain Ramon Integrated Farmers Association, Camantero Farmers Association, and San German Tionko Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries.
Other activities
Other activities within the trade fair, which will run until June 12, include contests on cooking black rice, fish, native chicken, and shellfish.
There will be chemical-free juice making contest, fisheries Olympics, fresh vegetable salad making contest, and demonstration of chemical-free pork and native chicken lechon.
As a measure to promote the coco sugar of Barangay Balaring, it will also conduct a seminar on the production of coconut and its by-products.
Also leading the opening rites, meanwhile, are Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino and representatives from the office of Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Visayas and Regulations Hansel Didulo.
