LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The provincial government of Pangasinan led by Governor Amado I. Espino III, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, distributed some 2,000 bags of certified palay seeds and 4,000 bags of fertilizer to farmer beneficiaries in support to the Agro-Industrial Enterprise Program recently at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center (PTDC).
The Agro-Industrial Enterprise program which was conceptualized by the governor aims to increase the yield of the farmer beneficiaries tilling an area of 2,000 hectares in the second district and to deliver the appropriate package of technology to these farmers to become more productive partners towards economic development.
Stressing the importance of the program, Gov. Espino said the provincial government is doing its best to help and support the needs of the marginalized farmers.
As such, he urged the farmers to take care of themselves and their crops even if they get discouraged when calamities happen.
Joining the governor in the distribution of the farm inputs are Vice-Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr. and 2nd District Board Member Nestor “Nikki Boy” D. Reyes.
During the distribution, Officer-in-Charge Provincial Agriculturist Dalisay A. Moya welcomed the farmers from the eight municipalities (Aguilar, Basista, Binmaley, Bugallon, Labrador, Lingayen, Mangatarem, Urbiztondo) of District II in Pangasinan.
Also on the same day, the provincial chief executive, turned over four tractors and 177 water pumps to organized farmer’s associations from the six congressional districts of the province at the Provincial Agriculture Office in Tebag, Sta. Barbara.
It can be recalled that the provincial government availed of the World Bank’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) fund to further push the local farmers towards entrepreneurship.
Last February, a total of P1-million farm tractor equipped with a rotivator, leveller and trailer was turned over to a multipurpose cooperative based in Mapandan town.
Initially, the provincial government has included 24 cooperatives in its list as recipients of the PRDP’s small livelihood package which is projected to increase agriculture income by 30 percent, with individual farmers sharing 5 percent more profit in marketed products.
As a backgrounder, Gov. Espino’s AIE program got a “shot-in-the-arm” from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan after the legislative body approved a resolution which authorized the provincial chief executive to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the farmer-beneficiaries of a massive rehabilitation project on irrigation systems.
By Dexter A. See