TAGUIG EYED AS ANOTHER AGRI-AQUA CENTER

The Department of Agriculture is set to transform the City of Taguig as another “Agri-Aqua Industrial Business Corridor,” which targets to enhance farmers’ productivity and boost the national economy at the same time.

“With all the existing facilities now by the Laguna Lake, I see a bigger potential for Taguig,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

The is targeted to be the gateway to Metro Manila in many ways with the whole of Laguna Lake as a major ecosystem that needs to be rehabilitated to support aquaculture and be developed in a sustainable fashion.

“Farmers and fisherfolk from Rizal and Laguna could come directly to Taguig using their boats to bring their produce and see to it that we have all the cold storages, the warehouses, and of course the open markets for people to come in a big way,”  Dar said.

Bigger plans for Taguig City were identified during the signing of Memorandum of Agreement for the Urban Agriculture Project (UAP) and meeting for the Multi-Agency Agricultural Government Assistance Program (MAAGAP) Para sa Kinabukasan sa Taguig last July 20, 2020.

According to the secretary, MAAGAP is just Phase 1 of a bigger concept of an agri-aqua industrial business corridor.

“Let’s build up from here and plan for bigger than what we have today,” he said.

Under the overarching framework for a food-secured and resilient Philippines with prosperous farmers and fisherfolk, the program applies the ‘New Thinking in Philippine Agriculture” and explores rural–urban symbiosis and public-private community partnerships.

Specifically, the UAP and MAAGAP for Taguig aim at enhancing urban food security and nutrition, providing an additional source of income through processing and improving efficiencies in the food value chain, addressing social integration of vulnerable communities, and contributing to urban ecological management.