The city council presided by Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan conducted its first session for 2021 last Jan. 4.
The council approved Ordinance 1, s. 2021, which mandates registration by owners of new and currently used agricultural and fisheries machinery and equipment with the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office.
Owners are either individuals, registered farmer-cooperatives and farmer-associations, and registered entities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment or the Cooperative Development Authority, as well as by government offices.
The ordinance is pursuant to Republic Act 10601 or the Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanization Law for local sanggunians to enact ordinances for registration of agricultural and fisheries machinery and equipment to ensure the quality and safety of agri-fisheries machineries and equipment as well as rational planning and programming of government investments and resources.
Agricultural and fisheries machinery refer to machinery and equipment for the production, harvesting, processing, storage, manufacture, preserving, transporting and distribution of agricultural and fisheries products, such as tractors and their attachments, power tillers, seeders, transplanters, windmills, harvesting machines, crop protection and maintenance equipment, irrigation equipment and accessories, greenhouses and other thermal conditioning equipment, livestock equipment, fishery equipment, slaughtering equipment, chicken defeathering machines (plucking machines), meat/fishery and crop processing equipment, meat grinders; post-harvest machines such as milling machines, dryers, threshers, grain and other strippers, coffee grinders, agricultural transport machinery and storage facilities including cold storage, refrigerated vans, and slaughterhouses.
Documents required from applicants are certificate of location/address of the owner to be issued by concerned barangay; duly accomplished registration application form from the CVAO; and any evidence of acquisition such as delivery receipt, sales invoice, official receipt or deed of donation, memorandum of agreement or memorandum of understanding.
A registration fee of P300 shall be charged inclusive of the cost of the registration plate to be issued by the CVAO to the owner. The registration shall be done within one year from the approval of the ordinance.
Machineries owned by cooperatives registered under Republic Act 6810 or the Magna Carta for Countryside and Barangay Business Enterprises (Kalakalan 20) and/or Republic Act 6938 or the Cooperative Code of the Philippines are exempt from payment of registration fees.
Benefits of registered machineries and equipment are availment of government incentives/subsidies; loan collateral; facilitating location of lost agricultural and fisheries machinery units; availing common service facilities services in the city when already applicable; and provision of insurance.
The CVAO in coordination with the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera, the Office of the Mayor, and the Association of Barangay Councils shall ensure the proper implementation of the ordinance.
The council also approved Ordinance 2, s, 2021 or the Coffee Ordinance of Baguio, which establishes the Baguio Coffee Processing Center and aims to assist local farmers through skills enhancement programs and for the development of a “Baguio coffee” brand.
Profiling conducted in 2018 by the CVAO showed there are about 108 coffee growers in the city with a plantation of at least 13,887 fruit-bearing trees producing an average annual production volume of 53,662 kilograms of coffee cherries.
The ordinance aims to address the laborious and time-consuming coffee processing, reduce or eliminate the 30 percent harvest lost, and to enhance the quantity and quality of coffee produce for a higher price through adequate modern facilities and appropriate trainings.
Farmers shall organize themselves into an association or cooperative for them to avail trainings and the use of the Baguio City Coffee Processing Center. Membership to the organization shall be strictly for the local farmers and not for traders or end users.
The CVAO is tasked to organize and coordinate trainings for the coffee growers from the different barangays of the city such as farming, growing, harvesting, drying, and other related agricultural trainings in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and other government and non-government agencies.
The CVAO with the assistance of the DTI and other government agencies shall set up the coffee processing center with assistance of other government agencies through the Shared Service Facilities Program. Other funds needed shall be sourced from other government and non-government funds.
Machineries and equipment in the center shall include those needed for depulping, hulling, grinding, roasting, sorting, vacuum packaging, and impulse sealing.
The project shall be supervised by a governing council composed of key local government officials, representative from the DTI, leaders of coffee producers, the Highly Urbanized Agriculture and Fisheries Council, micro small and medium enterprises, and community-based coffee associations. The council shall act as policy making body to be implemented by a management team.
The management team shall be composed of a manager; quality control officer; processors; packers; marketing officer; and bookkeeper. They shall work under the guidance of staff from the CVAO and representatives from the farmer producers, among others.
April 26, 2024
