ILOILO City – Two of the primary agricultural services of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Western Visayas will be made more available and accessible to the farmers as the agency recently materialized the Mobile Soils Laboratory and Mobile Plant Pest Clinic.
Remelyn R. Recoter, DA-6 regional executive director, had underscored the agency’s mission of providing innovative support services to farmers with state-of-the-art facilities for sustainable, competitive and resilient agriculture sector. Thus, coming up with the said mobile services.
“Farmers in remote areas can now obtain fertilizer recommendation based on the result of the soil analysis which they can avail for free from this mobile soils laboratory. Soil analysis is important in boosting agricultural productivity,” she added.
The P4-million-worth mobile soils lab was funded under DA’s Rice Program, according to Regional Soils Laboratory chief Lorie Deasis.
“Our regional lab is based in Parola, Iloilo City which is quite far from other municipalities. Unfortunately, this is not accessible to most farmers. We continuously campaign to farmers, even students and researchers, to get their soil analyzed to determine soil nutrient deficiencies in their areas before planting,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the Mobile Pest Clinic of the Regional Crop Protection Center (RCPC) worth P2.9 million was also funded by the DA Rice Program.
According to RCPC chief Ryan Rasgo, pest problems will be immediately identified and proper control recommendations will be given directly to farmers and agricultural extension workers with the aid of the Mobile Plant Pest Clinic.
“We want to make available services for crop protection faster and nearer to the farmers. With this mobile clinic, we can properly validate and identify reported pest infestation as early as possible to avert field losses,” explained Rasgo.
Farmers across the region will benefit from the services of both mobile soils lab and plant pest clinic upon request by respective local government units and farmers’ associations. These facilities will also be available during the conduct of farmers’ forum, agricultural information caravan, and other agri-related events./PN
