22/08/2005 KORONADAL CITY (SunStar)-- A group of farmers here has urgedthe City Government to set measures that would safeguard the city's primeagricultural lands from land use and crop conversions, especially for theongoing oil palm development project in the area.

The group, Samahang Magsasaka ng Timog Kutabato (Samatiku), cited that thecontinuing conversions of farmlands in several villages here into oil palmplantations might eventually affect the area's food-sufficiency andsecurity.

"Our agricultural lands that are suitable for staple food production likerice and corn are slowly being transformed into (oil palm) plantations.Time will come that there will shortage of local food production,"Samatiku secretary-general Eliezer Billanes noted in their letteraddressed to the city council.

He said the City Council must immediately enact an ordinance or resolutionthat would ban the further conversion of farmlands planted with rice andcorn into oil palm plantations.

Koronadal Mayor Fernando Miguel earlier issued Executive Order (EO) number07, which sets the establishment of the oil palm industry in the city.

Miguel said the move was in response to the identification of the citylast year by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade andIndustry as potential expansion area for the oil palm, which is currentlycentered in Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato provinces.

The City Government is currently developing at least 300 hectares ofunutilized or idle farms in 20 of the city's 27 barangays into oil palmplantations.

Billanes said they are strongly opposing the crop conversions as theeventual food shortage might be used by the national government to justifythe continuing importation of rice and other agricultural crops.

Aside from the farm conversions, Billanes also cautioned against themassive application of hazardous and toxic chemicals and pesticides forthe crop that might pose serious harm to the environment and the health ofresidents and farm animals.

Billanes pointed out that the solution to the worsening poverty is not themassive expansion of plantation crops like oil palm but the equitabledistribution of resources and the implementation of genuine agrarian andurban land reform as well as job generation. (Allen V. Estabillo)