The Provincial Government plans to open the Palawan Agricultural Center (PAC) in Barangay Irawan as a farm tourism destination, a statement from the Provincial Capitol said.
Provincial Agriculturist Dr. Romeo Cabungcal said that the provincial government is set to improve the facilities inside PAC in order to prepare it to visiting tourists, both domestic and foreign tourists.
“We want to develop it as a farm tourism site. Ang gagawin natin dyan ay pwedeng pick-and-pay strategy or the other one na pwedeng activity ay pwede silang magtanim doon. So para bang hands-on ng technology. If they stay there for about two hours pwedeng may seminar on organic vegetable production,” he said.
Dr. Cabungcal explained that there are several activities that can be introduced so that tourists will have a good experience during their visit in the facility.
He admitted that there are still many things that need to be fixed before the facility will be opened as one of the tourist attractions or destinations.
He further said that they will coordinate with the Department of Agriculture (DA) to link other activities including visit in dairy farm, also within PAC and other facilities.
“[Patuloy] ang vegetable production doon [at] ornamental plants. Sa ngayon ay nandoon pa tayo sa landscape designing. Ang mangyayari nyan ay collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, kasi ili-link natin doon sa Dairy Farm nila na pwede silang bumili doon ng ice cream [at] ang sa atin naman ay more on production ng mga vegetables,” he explained.
Presently, the concept paper for the proposed tourism site is formulated.
Another feature of the proposed farm tourism site is the vermicast production in a vermicomposting facility. Vermicast is an organic material from the waste of the worms known as African Night Crawler and other vermicomposting worms.
PAC is a show window of the available agricultural technologies in the locality.
“Ang Farm Tourism ay isang uri ng panturismong aktibidad na isinasagawa kung saan ang mga turista ay maaaring makibahagi sa pag-aalaga ng mga hayop, pagtatanim, pag-aani at pagproseso ng mga produkto. Ito ay alinsunod sa Republic Act No. 10816 o ang Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016,” the Palawan Provincial Information Office said.