Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco and Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan will be among the delegates to the Food Summit organized by the Department of Agriculture on April 4 in Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

Zayco yesterday said he was invited by DA Secretary Arthur Yap to the summit which will discuss various concerns of the agriculture sector.

He said they hope to raise in the summit the farmers’ problem of lack of post-harvest facilities and the taxes imposed on agricultural products.

Zayco said they hope to get DA support for the proposal to have processing plants for corn and rice that will follow the system used in sugar milling where quedans are issued to sugar farmers.

It will be easier for farmers to bring their corn to a processing plant, have it milled and bring home a warehouse receipt which corn traders will later pay for its equivalent price, he said.

This system will solve the problem on post harvest facilities and will ensure the marketability of corn and stabilize the supply, Zayco said.

He added that they will also push for the repeal of taxes imposed on agriculture products, given the increasing prices of fertilizers and pesticides.

Another probable topic during the summit will be the expected rice shortage which Zayco said Negros Occidental is spared from since it has enough buffer stocks and remaining harvestable fields.*NAB

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