360 SK upland farmers get palay seeds
AGRICULTURE • 07:15 AM Fri May 22, 2020
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By:
LM. Salvo/RAFIS-12
An upland rice farmer from Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat flashing a smile after receiving two bags of palay seeds from the Department of Agriculture's Special Area for Agricultural Development Program. Photo by: Maimona Amil/DA 12
The Department of Agriculture in Region 12 (DA 12) distributed upland rice seeds to farmers in three towns of the province of Sultan Kudarat (SK).
The DA’s Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program started the turn-over on May 19 in Senator Ninoy Aquino, on May 20 in Palimbang and today in Bagumbayan.
Each municipality has 120 farmer-beneficiaries who each received two bags of upland rice seeds. In summary, the DA-SAAD was able to distribute 720 bags to 360 farmer-beneficiaries.
The seeds cost PhP2.1-million.
SK Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer Percy Suyu, who represented DA 12 Regional Executive Director Arlan Mangelen, spearheaded the distribution together with some DA 12 and SAAD staff as well as personnel from the local government units and Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
Director Mangelen said the seeds distribution is part of the agency’s commitment of providing production inputs to rice farmers to assist them in sustaining their farming activities.
“Though we are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, we never stop giving our farmers with seeds and other interventions for them to help us in ensuring that food production activities continue in different parts of the region,” he emphasized.
As included in the DA 12’s Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat Kontra COVID-19 Food Resiliency Plan, the SAAD Program has allocated PhP11-M for its livestock and poultry dispersal and community-based vegetable production projects. (LMSalvo/RAFIS 12)