Thursday, December 07, 2006 Chamber sees bright prospects next year
BUSINESS will be good in 2007 because banana, which ranked the highest in yield among agricultural products, will remain a major crop in Davao City.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) president Atty. Bienvenido Cariaga in a press briefing with business reporters said the 5,000 hectares of banana plantation in Davao City will remain an economic drawer.
He attributed this to the latest stand of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte not to ban aerial spaying in banana plantations provided necessary safeguards and protection are applied to protect the people's health.
"It will continue to be good because the mayor had already spoken that he will not prevent aerial spraying here," Cariaga said.
He said the mayor told the group about his stand on the aerial spraying when he met with members of the chamber and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry team headed by former Ambassador Donald Dee in Davao City regarding DCCCII disaffiliation with the national chamber last October.
He said the mayor volunteered the information without the chamber asking him about aerial spraying adding that was it was a good decision otherwise banana producers, because of huge expense, might shift to other crops or look for other areas.
Cariaga said it will be more expensive if farmers adopt other scheme like manual spraying where additional infrastructure have to be introduced.
Compared to rice and corn, the net yield of growing exportable bananas annually is at P200,000 per hectare.
"Crops like rice and corn could only give farmers a yearly income of P50,000 at swerte na ang farmer kung makaabot sila this much," Cariaga said.
"As of now there is no other farm produce that would yield that much except for banana," he said.
Citing a data from the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of which Cariaga is a member, he said that in a pie chart representing agri production, 65 percent is for banana and the remaining 35 percent is shared by other crops like coconut, rice, corn, etc.
Still with the RTWPB data, he said "second best to banana is coconut but the latter is way below."
Cariaga said there is much improvement in the business chamber this year.
Cariaga also bared that membership in 2005 with 318 has gone up to 380 showing an increase of 20 percent.
He attributed this to the good business climate because more businessmen join prestigious organization and when they join they have the capacity which is an indication that there is more money.
