Provincial Board Member Dante R. Manalaysay, vice chair of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan committees on infrastructure, housing and land Utilization, said that developers are currently negotiating with several landowners for the acquisition of 800 hectares for a banana plantation project and 1,000 hectares for a farm of pineapples and tomatoes in the province.
The produce for the farms will be sold in foreign and local markets.
For Manalaysay, Bataan is one of the most progressive provinces in Central Luzon, especially because it is strategically located in the middle of the country’s growth zones: the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Freeport Area of Bataan, Clark Special Economic Zone and Metro Manila.
According to him, the new agricultural development concept is an “offshoot of the increasing population and influx of factory workers” which came from several industries and companies in the province.
These industries produce petroleum, petrochemicals, plastics, fiber glass, sportswear, handbags and accessories, footwear, electronics accessories, soya oil, tennis balls, newsprint and toiletries, ammunition and other highly-exportable products.
