Tags: Agribusiness, Livelihood Programs
By Nikka Garriga
MUÑOZ, NUEVA ECIJA – A five-hour drive up north from Metro Manila takes you to a city that is home to some modern research facilities that seek to anchor the growth of the country’s agriculture industry.
But before it became the established, self-sufficient municipality it is now, the Science City of Muñoz was just a 4th class district formerly called Sitio Papaya.
“When I assumed office in 1992, Muñoz was just a 4th class municipality with an income of roughly P8.7 million a year. It took about six to seven years before it was transformed to a well-qualified science city,” Mayor Efren Alvarez said in an interview with loQal.ph during a recent trip to Nueva Ecija.
It first held the title of a “science community” alongside Los Baños (Laguna), Diliman (Quezon City) and Bicutan (Paranaque) until it was declared in December 2000 as the first and only Science City in the country by virtue of Republic Act 8977.
Among the highlights of this municipality are at least 12 centers of excellence in agricultural science and technology such as the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), where the first test-tube carabaos, or water buffalos, in South East Asia were produced.
Muñoz also houses some of the most modern facilities in terms of rice research and post harvest technology like the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).
From its humble beginnings, the Science City of Muñoz is now a well irrigated, on-the-grid municipality with a thriving economy based mainly on rice and crop trading.
“The amount of P285 million a year in internal revenue allotment added to our local revenues had been a great help to the provision of necessary infrastructures and concreting farm to market roads to facilitate the local trade,” Alvarez said.
The local government is looking at developing more information and technology projects, particularly for the youth and waste management facilities to protect the natural condition of their land, he added.
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