BACOLOD City – Farmers of Bago City in Negros Occidental have received an initial 3,000 bags of certified seeds from the Department of Agriculture (DA) as part of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.
Bago City agriculturist Carlito Indencia said the first tranche will benefit over a thousand farmers and they will get around 7,000 bags more to cover a total of 5,000 hectares of rice farms.
“Some farmers have already planted for 2019. We will accommodate those in the north area for third cropping,” he added.
For Bago City dubbed as “the rice granary of Negros Occidental,” the seeds will largely help farmers reduce their production cost.
“Instead of purchasing seeds, farmers can use their funds for other inputs and farm activities instead,” Indencia said.
Farmers with an area of 0.5 hectare or less will get a bag of rice seeds while those with 0.5 to one hectare will have an allocation of two bags.
Those with farms from one to 1.5 hectares will be given three sacks, and farmers will receive four bags if they plant on more than 1.5 hectares.
The city government also distributed seeds to rice farmers using the local government fund.
Indencia said they have released around 3,500 40-kg bags during the first cropping season and the release for the 1,500 bags for the second cropping is still ongoing.
The city is releasing a total of 5,000 bags of certified rice seeds this year, he added.
Last May, Bago City was awarded – for the second straight year – as one of the top rice-producing local government units in the country during the DA’s Rice Achievers Awards.
According to the city Agriculture office, Bago City has a total of 119,528 metric tons of palay production from an area of 11,879 hectares in 2018.
Its average yield per hectare has increased from 4.2-metric tons in 2017 to 4.43-metric tons last year.
From the previous 20 percent, the city now contributes 25 percent to the total rice production of Negros Occidental.
The ceremonial turnover was held at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City last Thursday.(With a report from PNA/PN)
