The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) recently gave P460,000 pesos to a group of organic vegetable producers of Tublay, Benguet and another P728,000 to organic orange growers of Maligcong, Bontoc, Mountain Province as assistance to the government's all-out effort for food security.
Lawyer Ana Dione, regional director of the DOLE in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) said the further assistance to farmers in the area "would indirectly increase possible opportunities for local employment."
Records show that among industries which created scores of job opportunities for the Cordillera residents are those involved in agriculture, especially in the vegetable, fruit, coffee and rice production.
Dione said that the amount given to the farmers of Tublay town will be used to purchase a shredding machine "because the organic farmers group are still using bolos to chop grasses and other vegetative materials which are composted to produced organic fertilizer."
She said that the orange growers in Maligcong, Bontoc will also use the money given to increase their compost fertilizer output to fertilize few hectares of fruit-bearing citrus trees.
"Based on our prior studies, these local farmer groups have already achieved modest sales out of their chemical-free produce which are bought by health-conscious people as far as Manila," she said.
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