Butuan’s AgriBOOST records an increase of 88% in vegetable production
By Mariesh F. Celedeña
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) – The AgriBOOST Project, the city government of Butuan’s flagship initiative for food security, delivered a significant increase of 88 percent in the local vegetable production.
Engineer Pierre Anthony D. Joven, head of the City Agriculture and Veterinary Department (CAVD), remarked as he shared the data comparison on AgriBOOST’s vegetable production from 2023 to 2024. “From the project’s implementation in 2023 with 207 metric tons of local vegetable production, it soared to 389 metric tons the following year.”
Engineer Joven said that this reduced the city’s dependence on imported vegetables from other cities, strengthened local food supply and improved the lives and income of the vegetable farmers in the area. “The average weekly vegetable processing also resulted in a 52 percent increase, from 5,029 kilograms of vegetables weekly in 2023 to 7,648 kilograms in 2024.”
“This significant accomplishment proved the commitment of the city government of Butuan to strengthen food security, increase local food production, increase farmers’ income, provide market access, and support sustainable farming practices through the AgriBOOST Project,” he added. “This increase can be attributed to the continuous support of the local government to the farmers, providing farm inputs, greenhouse technology, and training on soil and climatic factors affecting vegetable crop production, seedling production and nursery care, cultural management practices, insect pest management and plant disease management.”
Joven also shared that as of June 2025, a total of 185 local farmers were supported by the government through the AgriBOOST Project.
To further connect farmers with the consumers, the AgriBOOST project was able to establish two AgriMart flagship stores in the city, all of which are strategically positioned to areas with high market accessibility. These serve as direct farm-to-market outlets, allowing residents to purchase fresh produce while ensuring fair prices for farmers.
AgriBOOST is now expanding their market through partnerships with private institutions like restaurants and hotels ensuring regular supply arrangements. This guarantees consistent income for participating farmers.
“CAVD is hoping that with the continued farmer support, this increase will be sustained for the following years,” Joven expressed as he took pride in how the program uplifted the lives of the farmers in the city.
“Some farmers said that they were able to purchase home appliances and farm equipment, their income has significantly increased, and there are also farmers supported by the program who were able to expand their farms. The number of farmers under the project grew and we are still hoping for more farmers to join,” he said.
For farmer couple Alberto and Venus Laugo of Barangay Ampayon, the LGU through its AgriBOOST Project has brought improvement to their family, saying, “Our income has doubled and our production has increased since joining the project. We were able to buy construction materials to build a house at the farm.”
With how the AgriBOOST Project changes the game in vegetable production, the city government of Butuan continues to champion inclusive agricultural growth, planting not just crops, but hope and opportunity. (MFC, PIA Butuan City)
