CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Former Lubao mayor and now 2nd District Board Member Mylyn Pineda Cayabyab visited the hard-hit farmers and poultry raisers in San Luis town on Wednesday and urged the public to buy their produce amid the continued COVID-19 pandemic.
Cayabyab engaged poultry raisers in an informal dialog in Barangay San Juan where a significant portion of the town’s poultry raisers is situated. At least 14 duck farms are in the barangay.
She said local producers revealed a significant reduction in the demand for duck eggs, a major product used in the confectionary industry and as street food in the form of balut.
“Demand had not been the same due to the quarantine restrictions,” Cayabyab noted, stressing the restrictions on public dining as well as in the movement of people have resulted in a less vibrant demand not just for poultry products but for most of the agricultural produce.
Vegetable hauler Virgilio Nantes, 56, said the sale of ampalaya has not been very good this season compared to the cropping seasons before the pandemic. He said that P25 pesos per kilo now could easily spell ruin if there is a lot of supply of the product in the market and not much takers.
The sudden closure of big community markets for disinfection and quarantine restrictions could also mean that products under consignment would remain unsold for days resulting in spoilage.The situation has proven to be more difficult for small haulers.
Nantes lamented that the agriculture sector in the countryside is virtually grappling with the economic effects of the pandemic on its own.
Cayabyab, for her part, said that to ease the effects of the pandemic on local agriculture producers, she had been calling on various sectors to prioritize the buying of locally produced products for community pantries and relief distributions.
The board member also promised to bring the concerns of farmers to the legislative level to assist them with better linkages in selling their products amid a less aggressive consumer sector.Cayabyab bought several kilos of locally produced vegetables from San Luis farmers and distributed these to several community pantries in the province on Wednesday. – MPC-IG
FARM VISIT. Former Lubao mayor and now 2nd District Board Member Mylyn Pineda Cayabyab visits San Luis town to check on the status of farming communities affected by the pandemic. Cayabyab is seen helping farmers harvest bitter gourd during her brief visit.