PLANTING SEASON. A farmer from Sibalom town plows his field to be ready for planting. Water from irrigation canals and those brought by rains enable farmers to plant palay, according to the Office of Provincial Agriculture (OPA) in Antique. (PNA photo by Annabel J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, ANTIQUE -- More than 16,000 hectares of farmlands in Antique are already planted with palay as irrigation water had become available due to the onset of the rainy season.
The data was based on the latest monitoring report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) as of end of June 2019.
“We are still preparing the report for July but that we expect 100 percent of the farmers could have already planted palay by the end of the month,” Ma. Lourdes Fortaleza, OPA Rice Report Officer, said.
The province of Antique has a total physical area of 42,154.34 hectares composed of 19,332.97 hectares as irrigated area, 19,096.02 as rain-fed area, and 3,725.35 hectares as upland area.
Around 15,246 of the 41,280 farmers in the province have already cultivated their farmlands.
Meanwhile, in Sibalom, the planted area covers 2,776.25 hectares; Patnongon, 2,350.16 hectares; Hamtic, 1,964.63 hectares; Tobias Fornier, 1,566.95 hectares and San Remigio, 1,498.68 hectares of farmlands that are planted with palay.
Fortaleza said although planting in many areas had been delayed because of the long dry spell, she is optimistic that the province could still realize the 214,565.44 metric tons production similar to last year.
“The province of Antique production last year was 214,565.44 metric tons, which we hope to still realize this year despite the El Niño phenomenon,” she said.
She added that with the rice production last year, Antique province's sufficiency level was then 1.41 percent as computed, based on the consumption of its population of 594,377 at 120 kilograms per person per year. (PNA)
