AGRICULTURE

TAWI-TAWI - The Department of Agriculture has hired a young Badjao who graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Tawi-Tawi as consultant to handle the government's livelihood and education program for the country's neglected sea gypsies.Roben Abdellah, an openly gay Badjao who is perhaps the first member of the tribe to earn a very high academic scholastic excellence, will be tasked to monitor the FB Pagbabago program of President Rody Duterte which aims to distribute fiberglass fishing boats to the country's poorest fishing families, especially the tribal groups

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi -- Tawi-Tawi, the country's southernmost province where people in its many islands say they could hear the roosters crowing from nearby Sabah, Malaysia, is a key food production area long neglected and overlooked because it is considered as one of the most dangerous corners of the Philippines.The province is one of the country's richest fishing grounds and when I visited Bongao, the capital town, on Monday I discovered just how abundant the harvests from the seas are.Guided by the young mayor of Bongao, Jimuel Que, the Department of Agriculture Biyaheng Bukid team toured t

Every time I see poor farmers and fishermen cry as they receive farm implements and fishing gears from government for the first time, I feel a lump in my throat.feel happy for them but at the same time I am sad that government has overlooked little things like these very important implements which they need to produce food.The Philippines has one of the least mechanised agriculture in Asia and many of our farmers are still using carabaos in tilling their fields.Many of our fishermen rent wooden fishing boats from the affluent families in their neighbourhoods for at least P200 every fishing

MLANG, North Cotabato - President Rody Duterte has ushered in a new age for Philippine Agriculture by leading the switch on of what could be the first small scale irrigation project using Solar Power.The President flew to the remote village of New Janiuay in M'lang, North Cotabato at about 2 p.m. to officially commission a Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) designed by Asian-American technicians which would provide water to about 70-hectares of rice farms which used to depend on rain water.

MLANG, North
Cotabato – Make Mlang solar-powered irrigation a farm tourist camp. A provincial board member in North Cotabato has proposed a
resolution recommending to Tourism Sec. Wanda Corazon Teshiba Tulfo-Teo to
accredit a solar-powered irrigation system in a rice producing village here as
tourism camp in pursuant to Republic Act 10816 or Farm Tourism Development Act
of 2016.

NORTH COTABATO – President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday launched a solar-powered irrigation facility in Mlang town in North Cotabato province.The project was introduced by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who is a resident of Mlang, a booming agricultural town in the province.The irrigation system will operate only by renewable energy and will supply water to farms of hundreds of peasants in Barangay Janiuay in the outskirts of Mlang.The project was patterned from solar-powered irrigation facilities of farmers in Thermal City in Southern California Piñol, himself a farmer, recently vi

MLANG, North
Cotabato – All roads lead to a remote village here as President
Duterte is scheduled to launch one of his election promises – free irrigation
for farmers.

This after Agriculture
Sec. Emmanuel Pinol envisioned a solar-powered irrigation system to be given by
the government for free to rice farmers throughout the country beginning this
year.

Time has come
that our rice producers will no longer worry about the cost of irrigating their
farmlands, Pinol told Radyo Bida Koronadal.

MANILA - President Rody Duterte on Monday pledged a P1-billion fund for the Department of Agriculture's Survival and Recovery Loan Program for farmers and fisherfolks affected by natural calamities.The President made the surprise announcement during the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) en banc meeting in Malacañang Monday.The NAPC en banc meeting, the first to be held in 10 years, was convened to discuss programs to address poverty.During the discussions, Pres.

KORONADAL
CITY - For so long, farmers in a community in Barangay Poblacion, Norala, South
Cotabato delivered their sacks of rice into the market through their karosa.

Karosa is a local term of a farm
cart used by Filipino farmers, usually pulled by a carabao, in transporting
rice produce and other commodities from their farms to the market.

It was our only mean in bringing our produce
from this area up to the pick-up point, Cesar Suoberon, tilling a 2-hectare
rice field in the area for more than 30 years, explained.

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- The country's long-neglected natural rubber farmers yesterday took the first step in elevating their status from mere producers to manufacturers when they organised themselves into a national association in a day-long activity in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato.An estimated 2,000 rubber farmers coming from as far as Basilan Island Province, Zamboanga Peninsula, Caraga Region, Northern Mindanao, the Muslim Region, Davao Provinces and other areas surrounding North Cotabato arrived as early as 6 a.m.