LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Lingayen – For the third time, the Province of Pangasinan has received the National Quality Corn Achievers Award (NQCAA) from the Department of Agriculture.
The award was presented to Governor Amado “Pogi” I. Espino, III during the flag-raising ceremony of provincial government officials, chiefs of office and employees Monday at the Capitol grounds here.
“This one is for our farmers! …This is in recognition of their care for all of us because they are the ones who feed us,” the provincial chief executive said during the program.
He said that the Php 3-million cash prize would be used to improve the Corn Farmers’ Activity/Coordinating Center in San Quintin and other field offices as well as to purchase additional vehicles for use of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg), aside from other corn-related development projects.
Presenting the trophy and Php 3-million cheque to the governor were OPAg Officer-in-Charge Dalisay Moya and Acting Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Nestor Batalla.
Moya, in a separate interview, said that for this year, Pangasinan is among the only five provinces in the country which received the citation. The province bagged the same award in 2013 and 2014.
She stressed that the province was conferred the award again because of its bountiful corn production, high quality yields and the unrelenting support of the provincial government to the corn sector.
“This is an assurance that we in the corn industry is charting the right direction under the leadership of Gov. Espino,” Moya pledged Pangasinense farmers.
Last November 16, the award was conferred to the province which was received by Board Member Liberato Villegas of the 4th district on behalf of Gov. Espino during the 4th NQCAA Awarding Ceremony in Carpenter Hill, Koronadal City in South Cotabato.
NQCAA was instituted by the Department of Agriculture in 2013 to laud the most outstanding local government units in the development of corn, which is the second top priority crop among Filipinos next to rice.
