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E. Visayas farms get 98K bags of high-value rice seeds

By Gerico Sabalza

March 6, 2020, 4:57 pm

<p><strong>HYBRID RICE.</strong> A rice farm in Pagsang-an village Abuyog, Leyte, a demonstration farm for hybrid rice farming. The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said on Thursday (Mar. 5, 2020) a total of 98,264 bags of 20 kilos high-value rice seeds were transported to Eastern Visayas for the dry season. <em>(PNA photo by Gerico Sabalza)</em></p>

HYBRID RICE. A rice farm in Pagsang-an village Abuyog, Leyte, a demonstration farm for hybrid rice farming. The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said on Thursday (Mar. 5, 2020) a total of 98,264 bags of 20 kilos high-value rice seeds were transported to Eastern Visayas for the dry season. (PNA photo by Gerico Sabalza)

ABUYOG, Leyte – The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said on Thursday some 98,264 bags of high-value rice seeds are intended for shipment to Eastern Visayas for the dry season.

As of March 4, some 88,530 seeds were distributed in the provinces of Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Samar.

These areas are among the 57 provinces nationwide with high potential for competitiveness based on the size of area harvested, yield level, cost of production, and share of irrigated area, PhilRice Bicol branch station director Victoria Lapitan said in an interview during the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) anniversary here.

“We are already at 90 percent in terms of distribution. In fact, during our review in February, Eastern Visayas is among the regions with the highest efficiency in the delivery of the intervention,” she said.

For the wet season, PhilRice targets to distribute about 139,249 bags of certified rice seeds in the region, covering 69,624 hectares of farm.

“We have increased our target since we do our best to accommodate all farmer-beneficiaries listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture,” Lapitan said, adding that some of the stocks have been delivered to the early planters.

The distribution of high yielding seeds is one of the components implemented under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) meant to increase the rice sector’s productivity and boost the income of farmers.

It is mandated under the RTL that the sector is guaranteed for a PHP10-billion annual budget for six years starting 2019 accumulated from the tariff revenues.

Among the other components of RCEF is the provision of modern farm equipment, expanded credit assistance, training for local farmers and other extension services.

“We are experiencing the birthing pain of RTL. It is new and during its first year of implementation, we haven’t felt its goal yet. But we are doing our best to efficiently and properly deliver government services to our hardworking farmers,” Lapitan added. (PNA)


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