DA DISTRIBUTES SEEDS, FERTILIZERS TO BULACAN FARMERS

Agriculture Secretary William Dar distributed  PHP175.423 million worth of seeds and fertilizers as assistance to farmers in the province heavily affected by super Typhoon Ulysses.

Included in the DA help were 15,000 bags of hybrid rice seeds worth PHP67 million; 15,100 bags of Rice Competitiveness and Enhancement Fund  (RCEF) certified seeds worth PHP22.95 million; 2,918 bags of expanded inbred certified seeds worth PHP4.4 million; 45,000 bags of fertilizers for hybrid rice worth PHP45 million; 30,200 bags of fertilizer for RCEF worth PHP30.2 million; and 5,836 bags of fertilizer for expanded inbred rice amounting to PHP5.84 million.

“We are giving the province these assistance pero posible pa itong madagdagan depende sa magiging resulta ng assessment sa mga susunod na araw (but there is a possibility to increase it depending on the outcome of the assessment in the coming days),” Dar said during his dialogue with farmer leaders and press briefing held at Balagtas Hall in Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center here.

Dar personally visited and witnessed how “Ulysses” battered the agricultural sector here wherein an ocular inspection with Governor Daniel Fernando was held in Pulilan, town.

This was after his personal visit to some affected farmlands specifically in the Pulilan-Baliuag Bypass Road area, together with Fernando, DA Assistant Secretary Noel Reyes, DA Regional Director Crispulo Bautista, Mayor Maria Rosario Ochoa-Montejo, Provincial Agriculturist Ma. Gloria SF. Carrillo, municipal agriculturists, and farmer leaders.

Dar and Fernando also proceeded to the Command Center of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) and continued to oversee the status of other agricultural lands.

“Aside from this, may ayuda rin tayo, maagang pamaskong handog na PHP5,000 cash sa lahat ng rice farmers na nagsasaka ng isang ektarya pababa, gayundin sa mga non-rice farmers, ito 'yung mga nagtatanim ng mais, niyog, tubo at mga mangingisda mula sa Bayanihan 2 (We also have assistance, early Christmas offering of PHP5,000 cash to all rice farmers who till land one hectare down, as well as to non-rice farmers, these are the ones who grow corn, coconut, sugarcane and fishermen from Bayanihan 2),” Dar said.

He said farmers can still avail of the PHP25,000 loan with zero interest and payable in 10 years.

Gigi Carilio, head of the Provincial Agriculture Office, said the affected rice land areas in the province is about 12,000 hectares, all under the reproductive and maturity stage.

These rice lands are located in the north zone part of Bulacan in the first and second districts.

The farmers in the south zone were not affected by the typhoon as they were unable to plant due to non-water supply from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

More than 1,000 hectares of vegetable farms were also affected mostly from the towns of San Ildefonso, San Miguel, and San Rafael.

Fernando said that as of Friday afternoon, they were still gathering the data and figures from every municipality and city for the official total amount of damages in the agriculture industry.

Meanwhile, Dar assured the Filipino people of enough rice supply for the next three months, thus there is no need to worry of rice shortage.

“We will give more aid in many ways, nandyan ang ating gobyerno na handang tumulong at magbigay pag-asa (the government is there ready to help and give hope). Let us be one and united sa pagbangon (to recover),” Dar said.

He added the total worth of agriculture damage and losses left by typhoons “Pepito”, “Quinta”, “Rolly”, and “Ulysses” nationwide reached almost PHP10 billion.