TABUK CITY, Kalinga: Farmers, livestock raisers and other agriculture industry stakeholders continue to play a vital role in the sustainable and continuous growth of the city over the past several decades achieving its identity as the rice granary of the Cordillera.

Mayor Darwin Estran ero lauded the unrelenting and uncompromising efforts of the various agriculture industry stakeholders in charting the city’s growth and development, especially as one of the fastest-growing cities in the country with agriculture as its major economic driver considering its vast tracks of agricultural lands contributing in ensuring the rice self-sufficiently of the Cordillera.

He pointed out that since its creation as a municipality over 72 years ago, Tabuk has already been a major producer of rice and corn, which serve as the major source of income for the people where most of the available lands have been tapped for its potential in producing the country’s staple food.

Tabuk has a land area of more than 700.25 square kilometers, making it the third-largest city in the country with Davao City and Ilagan City in nearby Isabela as the largest and second largest cities in the country.

Estran ero also commended the residents for their active participation in the various types of cooperatives in the city where 60 percent of the people living in the city’s 43 villages are members of cooperatives, which speaks well of their desire to maximize the benefits of being cooperative members to help in improving their economic activities and sustain the living condition of their families.

For the city, the chief executive assured the various agriculture industry stakeholders of its unending support in any form to sustain the growth of the people’s major source of livelihood to generate more jobs and expand economic activities that will allow the gradual and safe revival of the local economy that has been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic for two years now.

Estran ero said the road to recovery from the pandemic will still encounter stiff challenges because of the emergence of various variants that may rollback whatever recovery gained so far. That is why people must continue to be resilient, inspired and motivated to continue to hurdle the obstacles that may be met along the road to full recovery.

The city chief executive rallied the people to hang on, work hard and strive for the best in their respective endeavors so that whatever threats in recovery from the pandemic may come their way and the unabated increase in oil prices in the world market will be hurdled and it would be much easier for everyone to still improve their lives.

The city government heavily invested and is heavily investing in the continuous improvement of road networks leading to the barangays to provide farmers with easier access for transporting their produce from their farms to the nearest markets at the least possible cost that will add up to their income from raising rice, corn and crops.