TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Under the Corn Productivity Enhancement Project (CPEP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA), local corn farmers were given bags of corn seeds during the distribution initiated by the Office for the City Agricultural Services (OfCAS).
At least 914 bags of corn seeds were allocated to the 500 eligible corn farmers in the city, according to OfCAS Corn Coordinator Johnny Layao.
In an interview, Layao stated that farmers with less than one hectare of corn land received one bag of corn seeds, and farmers with more than one hectare received two bags. Pioneer, Dekalb, NK, and Advanta are the corn seed varieties that were distributed.
Apart from being registered under the Registry System for Basic Services in Agriculture (RSBSA), beneficiaries should be a member of any cooperative or farmers organization with civil society organization accreditation in the barangay, or a member of any corn cluster organization, he said.
This is the first time in 2024 that quality corn seeds were distributed for target beneficiaries as one way of assisting farmers especially those whose crops were severely affected by drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon.
The CPEP aims to increase the grain yield per hectare of yellow and white corn by three percent annually, to increase income of farmers, and increase the supply of yellow and white corn for feeds and food. By Darwin S. Serion
