Baguio City – Cordillera rice farmers received gratis seeds and fertilizers worth around PhP130M from the Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Rice Program Coordinating Unit under the Rice Resiliency Project (RRP) II in an attempt to boost the domestic rice production.
The project benefitted more than 27 thousand rice farmers from the seed subsidy and more than 32 thousand from the fertilizer subsidy for the dry cropping season 2020-2021. The beneficiaries are from the six provinces of the region. The farmers received 6,443 bags (20kg/bag) inbred seeds, 22,127 bags (15kg/bag) hybrid seeds. While for the fertilizers, 72,886 bags at 50 kg/bag and more than 25 million worth of vouchers were distributed.
Agriculturist Miriam Pastor said that through the interventions, the department expects to achieve at least 5 percent increase in the production growth from each of the province contributing to increased productivity and ensured food security of the region and the nation as a whole.
The farmer beneficiaries were mandated registered to the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture, to be eligible to receive interventions from the project. The validated areas of the farmers were used as the basis for the interventions.
On the other hand, the first phase of the project was conducted last wet cropping season where a total of 36,341 farmers benefited from the seeds and fertilizers grant covering a land area of 35,486 hectares.
By JMDayao
