CATARMAN, Northern Samar (PIA) – Around 30,179 bags of certified rice seeds were distributed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute to 13,492 local farmers registered in the Farmers and Fisheries Registry System in Northern Samar, according to Gabriel Banga, Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer of the Department of Agriculture Eastern Visayas.
This measure aims to boost the local production in the second cropping season from the regular harvest of 2.9 to as much as 5-6 metric tons if the farmers manage the fields well, said Banga.
The bags of rice seeds are expected to cover about 14,160 hectares out of 31 thousand hectares of rice fields all over the province.
Registered farmer beneficiaries received bags of certified rice seeds at the Catarman Freedom Park, Catarman, Northern Samar. (Photo courtesy of Serbisyo Publiko Online News)
“I am so grateful to the government for the assistance by providing the farmers in Northern Samar with certified seeds, this will definitely not only increase our production but surely our income as well,” said Jaime Diaz, a registered farmer in Brgy. Macagtas, Catarman.
“Our only concern is the weather; we are praying that no typhoon, flooding, or any disaster or calamity will hit the province during this planting season,” Diaz said.
The DA regional coordinator said the certified seeds distributed will be multiplied and will also be used as inputs for the next and succeeding planting seasons.
The handing out of the certified rice seeds is under the Department of Agriculture’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Seed Program. (MMP/AND/PIA-Northern Samar)
Bags of certified rice seeds distributed by Philippine Rice Research Institute to local farmers in Northern Samar. (Photo courtesy of Serbisyo Publiko Online News)
