RICE SUFFICIENCY. Department of Education-Ilocos regional director Dr. Tolentino Aquino (from left), Department of Agriculture-Ilocos regional director Dr. Annie Bares and Department of the Interior and Local Government-Ilocos regional director Jonathan Paul Leusen Jr. during the forum hosted by the Philippine Information Agency-Ilocos regional office on Monday (Oct. 2, 2023) in San Fernando City, La Union. Bares said the rice sufficiency of the region is still at 181 percent amidst the calamities. (Photo by Hilda Austria)
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – Rice sufficiency level in Ilocos Region is at 181 percent amid the typhoons and rains experienced in the past months, an executive of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Monday.
In a forum hosted by the Philippine Information Agency-Ilocos Region, DA Ilocos regional director Dr. Annie Bares said rice production in the region is enough for this year.
“Hopefully, the 1.6 million metric tons of rice target will be realized this coming harvest season on October and November. If there will be no more strong typhoons, we will be able to attain the target,” she said.
Last year, the region produced almost 1.9 million metric tons of rice.
Rice production is now at almost 2.1 million metric tons, hit during the dry season harvest of 2022-2023.
Bares said the recent calamities’ damage was mostly on infrastructure and not on crops.
“Out of the PHP3.4 billion damage to agriculture, 55 percent of which was in infrastructure or the irrigation canals,” he said, adding the cost of damage to infrastructure alone amounted to about PHP1.5 billion.
Bares said the damaged corn and rice crops were about 3,000 hectares each but the farmers recovered through the buffer stocks distributed by the DA, thus they were able to replant.
The DA also supported the farmers in the form of seedlings and other interventions such as fertilizer discount vouchers for the wet season, quality rice seeds (hybrid and inbred) and fuel discount voucher, she said.
“We are also waiting for the quick response fund to be downloaded. That would benefit the affected farmers,” she added. (PNA)
