THE Central Philippines State University (CPSU) in Barangay Camingawan, Kabankalan City has been tirelessly providing support to the farmers in Negros Occidental by assisting this sector whose livelihoods were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CPSU President Dr. Aladino C. Moraca, these farmers need the support they can get to market their products following the various movement restrictions imposed during the enforcement of the Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ in the province.
The initiative of the CPSU was intensified further with its partnership with the Region-6 office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-6) led by Regional Director Remelyn Recoter, and Bacolod City-based RU Foundry and Machine Shop Corporation (RUFMSC) under Ramon Uy Sr.
“The nation’s fight for the total eradication of the COVID-19 disease may seem to be a long journey ahead, but with everyone’s cooperation and support to the government’s initiatives, the weight becomes less arduous for everyone,” Moraca says.
Because of this, Moraca started consolidating the small farmers within the conservation area of the main campus as sources of farm produce.
This initiative has started to benefit the small farmers in the locality because their farm products are directly bought from them at fair prices and immediately transported to the Kadiwa markets in Bacolod City, one of which is the Negrense Kadiwa at May’s Organic Garden in Barangay Pahanocoy, which was established by Ramon Uy Sr.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the CPSU also expressed its commitment to continuously support and provide assistance to the members of the affected communities, including the frontliners who are risking their lives to serve the people in their respective areas.
Recently, the CPSU’s Research and Development Center, headed by Director Angelie Rose Luamba, was able to produce some 2,000 washable face masks that were distributed to the frontliners within the quarantine control points in Kabankalan City.
Some of the face masks were also distributed to the personnel of the CPSU’s extension campuses located in the province of Negros Occidental.
Likewise, the CPSU Hinobaan Campus under Mark Anthony G. Abello provided support to the frontliners in the municipality, particularly to the Indigenous People (IPs) residing in its area of jurisdiction.
Members of the IP community were recipients of not just food items but as well as practical farming ideas which will eventually help them to cultivate different varieties of vegetables in their respective settlement areas.
The Hinobaan team also provided food packs to the IP community at Sitio Cansag-ao, including to the senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Barangay Pook.
Similarly, the CPSU Cauayan Campus under Dr. Germa T. Bores likewise provided food packs to the frontliners within the locality.
The Cauayan team also provided food items to the frontliners manning the quarantine control points in the municipality.
On the other hand, the CPSU Candoni Campus under Dr. Chim Misajon also provided support to the targeted communities, including the frontliners in the municipality who were recipients of cash assistance for the purchase of additional safety gears and personal protective equipment. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
