IT was then Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. who built the first fishery school in the Fourth District of Pangasinan, named Asian Fisheries Academy.

It will soon be De Venecia’s 29-year old son Christopher, more popularly known as “Toff”, a candidate for Congressman who substituted for her mother Gina who plans to establish the district’s first School for Farmers.

“I want the Farmers’ School to be my banner project in San Jacinto, the town which I listed in my legislative agenda as agro-tourism hub,” the young De Venecia said in an interview.

Toff de Venecia consults local farmers about their concerns.

He said it is in his Farmers’ School where all farmers in the district can help themselves and update their knowledge in farming in order that they can maximize output for their crops and consequently earn more.

De Venecia said he is optimistic he can source funds to launch and sustain the project. One prospect he said could be the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprises Zone Authority (TIEZA) for the development of agri-tourism program, if really it has tourism potentials, the provincial government or from private partners.

He said the Farmers Schools will invite experts locally and abroad to lecture to the farmers on latest proven agriculture technologies for adoption in their own fields.

At the same time, De Venecia assured the establishment of the Dagupan Fish Port but will discuss this with Mayor Belen Fernandez and other stakeholders who want the facility established in the Calmay River and not in Bonuan Binloc where the Dagupan Fish Processing Plant is already located.

Funding for the fish port is now ready for the site that the city government will identify for the facility.

In his legislative agenda for agriculture, the young de Venecia said he will push for the abolition of irrigation fees that range from P1,000 to P1,200 per hectare per harvest season.

He said farmers must not be made to pay for irrigation fees to the National Irrigation Administration.

Unlike in the Philippines where the irrigation fees are being used by NIA for maintenance purposes, Vietnam–which is now exports rice to the Philippines and other Asian countries– its government subsidizes irrigation fees, that is why their agriculture is booming.

At the same time, De Venecia said he will push for the passage of the Expanded Crop Insurance Program bill that his mother Gina tried to pass in the present Congress.

Noting that is the traders who dictate the prices of farm inputs like pesticides, fertilizers and seeds, De Venecia called on farmers to form and join cooperatives so they can get big discounts in cost of farm inputs.

“I will really work with mayors in order to organize farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives since it’s the only way costs of farm inputs can be reduced,” he said.

He will also push for crop rotation to ensure that farmers will not only plant rice all year round but also corn vegetables and high-value crops including soya beans.

He called on farmers to adopt the Palayamanan Program which involves intercropping and called on them to raise livestock to boost their income while waiting their crops to mature.

The young De Venecia said the government must also invest in cold-harvest and post harvest facilities, citing the Dagupan City Fish Processing Plant as one example.

He endorsed the: Bukid Revolution” of former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas which seeks to give out post harvest facilities to farmers and post-catch facilities for fishermen.

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