MISAMIS ORIENTAL, Aug. 25 (PIA) - The city government of Gingoog has focused on giving importance to agriculture by augmenting its fund allocation from P30 million to P200 million this year for livelihood and agricultural programs.

Mayor Erick Canosa shared during the Network Briefing hosted by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar that even before COVID -19, the city government has already started helping the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the Higaonon tribe, one of the geographically isolated and disadvantaged sectors of the community.

In the entire country, Gingoog is the only one having an Oolong Tea plantation, a kind of tea that can be compared to green and black tea and is one of the most expensive teas in the world, the mayor said.

The city is also investing in high value crops such as coffee, cacao and banana, he added.

Gingoog was one of the top producers of coffee way back in 1980s, and it is now trying to revive the coffee industry.

"We are planning to have our own trading center where the LGU will buy directly from the farmers. We will serve as marketing arm instead of having to go through private traders which will devalue prices of most farm inputs. This will also help them have sustainable income," he said.

The city also goes for Cacao farming. "In Philippines alone we need more than 150,000 metric tons of cacao but we can only produce 30,000. Right now we are focusing on this and even planning to build our own chocolate processing plant in Gingoog City with the support of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Shared Service Facility," Mayor Canosa pointed out.

Aside form this, the local government also has a program in every barangay that will finance 2,500 sq.m. of land to be planted with vegetables. They have also tapped Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines to help MSMEs in their capital.

On the other hand, the mayor declared that they have zero local transmission of COVID-19. There are so far, 11 confirmed cases and asymptomatic comprising returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) who arrived in the city and are now in the city's isolation unit.

The Mayor shared that they are on top of everything and are constantly monitoring COVID cases in the city. (JMORucat)