Tabuk faced with farmland problems

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - The Tabuk City Government is faced with the dilemma on how to maintain the city's farmlands, as it slowly turns into an urbanized area. Tabuk Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. said he had asked the City Council to pass an ordinance imposing a moratorium on the conversion of rice fields into industrial lands. "The city's biggest challenge now is how to maintain the farmlands, which are now slowly being converted into industrial lands," Lammawin said. The mayor said prices of lands in the city are expected to increase in the next five years, as Tabuk rapidly turns into a highly urbanized area. Tabuk was converted into a city last year, the second in the region. About 19,827.3 hectares of the city's 641.7 square kilometers land area is devoted to agriculture. This came just as the City Government manifested its bid to revive its tag as the country's largest producer of hybrid rice. Lammawin said hybrid rice production in Tabuk has decreased from 5,000 metric tons to 2,000 metric tons. He said farmers are not focusing on other industries, but the high cost of hybrid seeds and the termination of government subsidies have greatly contributed to the decrease in hybrid rice production in the city. The City Government has allotted P3 million as subsidy to rice producers, in a bid for the country's hybrid rice capital. Since its conversion into a city, Tabuk is getting P376 million as Internal Revenue Allotment, although it remains a component city of Kalinga Province. - Sun.Star