More than 20 cutflower growers in Baguio City received P25,000 each under the city government’s recovery loan program for the agricultural sector.
The assistance is done through the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), and the office of Councilor Philian Weygan Allan, chair of the city council committee on trade, market, commerce, and agriculture.
The cutflower growers, who passed a stringent screening process, came from several barangays and represent the first batch to avail of the loan, which is payable in three years with no interest.
CVAO Head Bridgit Piok said the next batch to be given the loan are growers of lettuce and carrots.
“We hope that the city’s cutflower industry will soon recover,” she said.
The loan was handed over by Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Flor Pedro of the DA regional office, Marcial Lloyd Bayangan of ACPC, and a representative from Allan’s office.
Magalong encouraged the cutflower growers to do their best to succeed amidst the pandemic and to transform the loan into something productive.
“Make the most out of it (loan),” he said.
He said Baguio is still lucky with at least 10 percent of its land area being agricultural compared to other places like Manila where they have no place to plant.
“The city is also lucky to have a very unique product, which is cutflowers, and we are known for that. We never had this before,” Magalong said. – Gaby Keith
