Additional 4,450 hectares of cocal areas identified in OrNeg
The coconut industry here is expected to get a boost from the additional 4,450 hectares of land in the province that has been identified under the Agri Business Land Development program of the government.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Domingo Panganiban recently announced that the government has targeted the development of an additional 1.35 million hectares nationwide to be planted with coconut trees over the next five years.
This move aims to strengthen the country's dominance of the global coco oil export as well as creating 10 million jobs in 2010, a main component of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ten-point pro-poor agenda.
In Oriental Negros, Provincial Coconut Development Manager Brendan Trasmonte of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) here said that the areas in the province were identified following a validation conducted by the PCA among the total 89,000 farmers and farm workers here in April 2005.
Of the total 4,450 hectares, 1,249 hectares are for coconut planting and re-planting. "These are the areas wherein the coconut trees are senile and unproductive and areas which are open fields, therefore suitable for coconut planting," says Trasmonte.
There are currently close to 6 million coconut trees planted in a total of 52,460 hectares of coconut lands in the province. Of the total number, 4.2 million are bearing trees and 1.4 are non-bearing.
Around 34,500 hectares in the province are considered open areas potential for coconut planting, says Trasmonte.
During the validation, Trasmonte said the farmers were also asked on their choices of crops and livestock for the Agri Business Land Development program.
For the animal integration, the farmers chose carabao, cattle, hogs and goat with a total target of 205 hectares. "We have exceeded our target, as currently about 796 hectares have been accomplished under the animal integration program," he said.
Trasmonte explained that the Agri Business Land Development program will also employ an inter-cropping scheme geared towards generating additional income and jobs for local farmers.
The crops chosen for inter-cropping aside from coconut are corn, peanut, banana, cassava, papaya, monggo, fruit trees, vegetables and forest trees with a total target of around 4,249 hectares. "As of October, we have accomplished around 1,190 hectares," Trasmonte said.
He added his office launched local fund sourcing initiatives to finance the coconut development efforts in the province.
PCA was able to collect around P1,158,000, of which P1M is from the provincial government and the rest are from the local government units of Dauin, Basay and some cooperatives in Valencia.
The President has earlier stressed the need to increase coconut production due to the high supply demand in the markets now.
Coconut has been the country's highest export performing agricultural commodity, accounting for 37.23% of the country's total exports, according to Sec. Panganiban.
The PCA website states that there are around 324 million coconut trees in the Philippines of which 85 percent are productive.
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Sibulan to put timberlands to proper use
The municipality of Sibulan is set to craft a Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP) that will put its timberlands to appropriate use and give tenurial instrument to the area.
This developed following a Memorandum of Agreement forged between the Sibulan local government unit and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 7 represented by its Regional Director Julian Amador and the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corporation (PNOC-EDC) represented by Engr. Danilo Catigtig on October 22 at the town's SB Session Hall.
According to Sibulan Information Officer Connie Zamora-Rosales, the plan is in line with the five-point agenda of Sibulan Mayor Antonio Renacia, which includes the protection, conservation and preservation of the town's natural resources.
"This is persistent with the implementation of this Agreement which will be the basis for future forest reforestation programs in the mountains of Barangay Enrique Villanueva," says Rosales.
After the inking of the MOA, Renacia has issued Executive Order No. 05 creating the technical working group who will take the lead in the formulation of the FLUP while a barangay technical working group will also be established to serve as the core group.
Rosales said that project is set to be completed in six months' time.
Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Charlie Fabre said DENR's Ecogov project will provide technical assistance to the implementation of FLUP with funding from USAID.
Rosales said funding for training shall be provided by PNOC and the LGU.
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DBP lends P33.8 Million, vows more aid to micro-enterprises
The Development Bank of the Philippines released P33.8 million in total loans to three participating conduit microfinance institutions as part of its efforts to complement the government's initiative of spurring the growth of the micro-enterprise sector.
Checks representing DBP's microfinance loan releases were given to the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Inc. (p30 million, BMS Rural Bank (P19.4 million) and First Macro Bank (1.901 million).
The loan releases demonstrate that microfinance remains a significant development strategy for DBP as it endeavors to contribute to the empowerment of disadvantaged sectors in the fight against poverty.
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Entrepreneurship ultimate solution to poverty problem, says President
Incorporating entrepreneurship in basic education system is the key to the country's economic growth and stability. This was stressed by president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the entrepreneurship and basic education seminar held at the Manila Polo club in Makati City recently.
According to the president, " Entrepreneurship is not only the key to economic growth and stability but the ultimate solution to poverty." She added that land, labor and capital would be of no use if not properly managed by an inventive and innovative entrepreneur.
Through the efforts of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has issued a memorandum circular prescribing the minimum requirements for a bachelor of science in entrepreneurship degree course in the country's educational system.
To be implemented this year, CHED's memorandum circular 17-05 is expected to "give rise to more young business owners and a stronger culture of enterprise".
During the president's inaugural address last year, she pointed out that foremost in her 10-point economic agenda is the development of three million entrepreneurs by 2010. She said incorporating and promoting entrepreneurship in basic education would not only give substance to her agenda to create more job opportunities, but also create wealth for more filipinos. She added that educators, who are gallantly supporting the pce program, and the stories of successful entrepreneurs taking part in the seminar would surely promote, develop and inspire more Filipinos to become entrepreneurs even beyond 2110.
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Local government executives vow support for "Kilos Asenso" movement
Kilos Asenso is an action-oriented campaign that aims to improve the life of the common people by harnessing their time, talent, and treasure in the communities, as well as accomplishing the goals of the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010.
In this movement, members will commit to donate time, talent and treasure to plan and implement specific action projects in their communities, down to sitio and barangay levels. These can include building farm to market roads, strengthening small bridges, tree planting as investment for the future, improving potable water supply, seeding rivers and lakes with tilapia anf other food fish, building day care centers, setting-up or upgrading community livelihood enterprises using access to microfinance, organic composting for community use, and recycling garbage into organic fertilizer.
Local government executives will mobilize members of society for technical and other support, and facilitate community planning and selection of appropriate projects. Members will participate in providing resources, setting up target dates, installation of baseline and monitoring systems and organization of regular project accomplishment review meeting.
Kilos Asenso hopes to inculcate the values of self-reliance,diligence, resourcefulness, cooperation, and the use of new and practical learning.
Kilos Asenso draws inspiration from the Saemaul Undong movement, spearheaded by former South Korean President Park Chung-Hee during the 1960s, which transformed a war-torn, agricultural-based economy into a newly-industrialized, progressive nation. It was done by harnessing the efforts of the villagers and the government through discriminatory assistance and contribution by all members of the community.
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INFOBITS:
1. What is charter change?
Charter change is amending some of the provisions of the Constitution.
2. Why is it important for the average Filipino to take part in the discussion of charter change?
The decision on charter change ultimately lies in the hands of the sovereign people. However, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in the
Philippines revealed that 3 out of 4 Filipinos had little or lack of knowledge of the Constitution.
3. Is it timely to talk about charter change?
Yes.
4. Why is it timely to talk about charter change?
Our present Constitution was written in 1987 or almost twenty years ago. There are provisions that must be made responsive and attuned to the tremendous challenges of the 21st century.
5. Some view charter change with suspicion. Why is that so?
Political mudslinging, character assassination and trial by publicity seem to have become part of our political life so much so that people have a high level of mistrust in their political leaders. Thus, any political action, regardless of its timeliness or inherent relevance, is viewed with doubt and skepticism. This is a sad reflection of the degeneration of our political system that makes it difficult for any leader to make any headway
6. There are some who look at charter change as a diversionary tactic and/or a graceful exit scenario for President Arroyo. Is this reasonable?
We must not trivialize the urgency of need for constitutional reforms. During the Ramos administration, there was a strong clamor for charter change which focused on the lifting of term limits and restrictions on economic provisions. This was continued during the Estrada administration, through the constitutional correction for
development, with emphasis on economic liberalization measures. President Arroyo, on record, is the only presidential candidate in the 2004 elections who pushed for the fundamental change in our political system as part of her five reform platforms in the campaign. No other candidate dared to take it up out of apprehension over its acceptability.
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