SEEDS FOR El NIÑO-HIT FARMERS. The Iloilo Provincial Agriculture Office gives out rice seeds from the Department of Agriculture to farmers affected by El Niño. The seeds will be used by Iloilo farmers for the second cropping this month of September. (File photo)
ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) has started giving out rice seeds from the Department of Agriculture (DA) to farmers affected by the prolonged dry spell or El Niño, an official said on Monday.
The of towns of Igbaras, Tubungan, Tigbauan, Santa Barbara, Zarraga, Janiuay, Lambunao, Calinog, Dueñas, Barotac Nuevo, San Rafael, and Banate had already claimed their seeds from PAO since August 13, Elias Sandig, Assistant Provincial Agriculturist said in a phone interview.
"The DA has alloted 17, 000 bags of rice seeds composed of 4, 400 bags of inbreed and 12, 600 hybrid seeds," he said.
The farmer-beneficiaries are assessed and validated from the village level through the chairman on agriculture.
The list of beneficiaries or the affected farmers were forwarded to the municipal level, which became the PAO reference list.
Sandig said 40 out of the 43 local government units (LGU) in the province had received the assistance for seeds.
“The towns of Lemery, Cabatuan, and New Lucena has not received the seeds because only the towns that have reached 60 to 100 percent degree of damage were granted the assistance,” he said.
The farmers have the discretion, on which breed of seeds they will receive. Each farmer is given a bag of seeds that is good for a one-hectare farm.
The seeds distributed would be used by the farmers on the second cropping for the month of September, Sandig said.
Municipal agriculturists in the remaining towns, who qualified for the seed grant, are advised by PAO to claim the seeds to be used by their farmers.
Based on the damage assessment report for cereals of PAO on April 8, a total of 7,495 hectares of land planted with rice in the province are totally damaged while 19,568 are partially damaged due to El Niño.
The crop damages have reached a total volume of 62,791 metric tons. (PNA)
