AGRICULTURE

COTABATO CITY– The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) assured that the regional government is ready for the onset of La Niña, a weather phenomenon characterized by recessive rainfall.Secretary Atty. Noor Hafizullah Kirby Abdullah of the region’s Interior and Local Government department (DILG-ARMM) said during a press conference on that his office has already convened local government units (LGUs) since May to carry out disaster preparedness measures.Atty.

The doubts and uncertainties are over.President Rody Duterte's commitment of free irrigation for the country's rice farmers will certainly be implemented starting 2017.It will be the first time in the history of Philippine agriculture when irrigation water will be provided free for the Filipino rice farmers.The powerful Senate Finance Committee headed by Senator Loren Legarda has cleared all doubts after it declared full support to the commitment of President Duterte for free irrigation for the country's 2.5 million rice farming families.Legarda, along with vice chairman Senator Cynthia Vi

COTABATO CITY (Sept 27) --- Thousands of Filipinos stand to benefit from technical interventions New Zealand committed to provide to boost the local dairy industry. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Tuesday said Nathan Guy, New Zealand’s minister of primary industries, assured him of their support to the Philippine dairy industry during a meeting on Monday in Piura, Peru. In a statement emailed from abroad Tuesday, Piñol said he and Guy had a brief meeting while in Piura for a ministerial meeting on agriculture of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

AMAS,
Kidapawan City – The Provincial Government of
Cotabato through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAG) steps up its
Calamity Seeds Assistance Program in 17 towns and lone city which aims to
provide greater help to farmers affected by the long drought in previous
months.

Eliseo M. Mangliwan, Provincial Agriculturist informed that the OPAG has
already dispersed a total of 1,185 bags of corn seeds from April to June 2016
(first batch) and 1,345 bags of corn seeds from Aug 1-31, 2016 (second batch).

KORONADAL CITY -About
P36.8 million worth of microenterprise proposals for Region 12 were approved during the
conduct of the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) Deliberation and Approval
of Sub-projects here last week.Under
the Investments in Rural
Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity (I-REAP) or
I-REAP component of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development
Project (PRDP), proponent groups (PG), mainlycooperatives in SOCCSKSARGEN presented 33 proposals.

There is a move now in both Congress and Senate to look into the proposal to create a new government department - Fisheries- separating it from the Department of Agriculture.Earlier today, I was asked in separate interviews what my position is on this issue which they said came as a result of the neglect of government on the fisheries sector.I do not want to sound sarcastic but if every sector in agriculture would be separated simply because it does not receive enough attention and support, then what would stop people later on from proposing the creation of the Dept. of Vegetables, Dept.

COTABATO CITY --- A group of Japanese entrepreneurs is in the city establishing contacts with prospective partners who can help propagate locally Unagi eels that can be sold in Japan and other countries. In a press communiqué Wednesday, Halima Satol-Ibrahim, information officer of the Cotabato City government, said the visiting group had met with Vice-Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi and discussed with her their plan to venture into Unagi culture in potential sites here.

COTABATO CITY – Efforts by the city government to strengthen local halal” industries got a much needed boost via a pledge of support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The ILO, an outfit of the United Nations, focuses on international development. It is a member of the UN’s development group,” which is involved in global community empowerment and social welfare programs.

COTABATO CITY --A cup of brown rice will be donated to every hash tag in a campaign of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s agriculture department for unpolished brown rice.Alexander Alonto Jr. regional secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF-ARMM),said as part of simultaneous regional launching across the country, the agency has launched #BROWN4Good campaign on Wednesday.

The Department of Agriculture budget hearing by the Congressional Committee on Appropriations went through smoothly yesterday and in a matter of about four hours, it was done.The 2017 Budget amounting to P50.6-billion was not exactly what I asked for from the Department of Budget and Management but given the fact that it was the amount approved, I have to work with it.The 2017 DA Budget suffered a reduction of P3.4-billion compared to the 2016 allocation but this was simply because it was the budget ceiling recommended by the Finance Team in the Cabinet.The Finance Team could not entirely b