Local agricultural producers will strengthen their efforts to promote the city as a farm-tourism destination.
Valente Turtur, president of the newly-organized Davao Farm Tourism Association (DFTA), told the reporters in an interview that they would formally launch the program in time for the Kadayawan festival in August.
The DFTA is an association comprised of agricultural producers in the city.
Turtur said the need to promote farm-tourism is timely, especially now that the newly seated Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has bared plans to bolster agri-tourism in the country.
“We will start with cacao farms as major tourism destination,” Turtur said, who is also the president of Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao Inc. (Cidami).
In December last year, the Department of Tourism launched Davao Chocolate Tours Overload, an educational tour that features the process from cacao bean production to the creation of chocolates.
Malagos Garden Resort also features the Chocolate Museum, which educates visitors on the history of cacao and encourages to have hand-on experience in choco-making.
The Regional Development Council XI (RDC XI) also declared Davao Region as the country’s cacao and chocolate capital.
Based on the approved resolution last year, the council adopted the proposal of their economic development committee (EDC) to declare Davao Region as the cacao and chocolate capital of the Philippines.
“This council further acknowledges the significance of adopting a regional branding for the cacao industry to actively promote public and private sector engagement in the industry,” the RDC XI said.
