SAN JOSE, Antique – The Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas (DA-6) has allocated 55,860 bags of palay seeds for 22,000 farmers in this province for their second cropping that will start on Sept. 15.
The seed provision is expected to cover 27,000 hectares of palay farms in the province, according to Nicolasito Calawag, chief of the Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA), on Thursday.
The assistance is mandated under Republic Act 11203 or Rice Tariffication Law for farmers who are registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture.
“There will be two bags of palay seeds given for every hectare of the farm,” he said.
In Barbaza, the distribution kicked off on Sept. 8. A total of 5,500 bags were given to 2,750 farmer recipients.
Meanwhile, Calawag clarified that those palay seeds are different from those that will be used as replanting materials for damaged crops due to the flooding.
“We will use our buffer stock as replanting materials,” he stressed.
Serafin Yanga, OPA focal person on natural calamity, stated that flooding damaged 38 hectares of palay farm in Tobias Fornier.
He added that they are expecting 600 bags of palay from the DA regional office as replanting materials.(PNA)
