WV targets 2.2M MT of rice for 2009 cropping season
The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas has targeted some 2.2 million metric tons for this year’s rice cropping season in step with President Arroyo’s rice sufficiency thrust.
This was disclosed by DA 6 Director Larry Nacionales in a PIA interview, who also emphasized that the early rains experienced in the region likewise help the farmers to kick-off their farming stint.
Director Nacionales gave a positive forecast for this year’s rice production output considering that the region has successfully surpassed its target output in year 2008 recorded at 2.08 million MT, despite the damages of typhoon Frank to the agriculture sector.
Fast recovery from the affected sectors were hastened by the Agriculture department’s quick turn around program, Nacionales noted.
“Sixty percent of the rice production output is expected from the wet season production,” he said.
Nacionales said that the region has 313,000 hectares of rice land. He noted that the region’s good rice production output was contributed by our framers’ use of high yielding varieties of rice as “we promote the use of certified seeds and the adoption of new farm technology so as to improve land preparation.
Our 2008 rice harvest enabled Region 6 to gain the number two slot in the country for rice production, said Nacionales as he emphasized that for Region 6, around 42 percent of our production was contributed by Iloilo. The provinces of Negros, Antique, Guimaras, Capiz and Aklan also continuously provide sufficient production.
The DA 6 director noted that the rice production output of Aklan was affected by environmental change citing the rains and floods and pest infestation, but the province’s sufficiency level is still notably high.
Last year’s top ten commodities in Region 6 are rice, sugar cane, swine, municipal fisheries, commercial fisheries, poultry, aqua-culture, corn, mango and coconut. These commodities are top gainers and provide economic benefits for the region, Nacionales concluded. (PIA6/T.Villavert)