Palay harvest season starts early

San Juan, La Union—The National Food Authority announced that palay harvest season in some parts of the region has started this early.

Dir. Carlito G. Co said that this is a welcome development for the food agency which intends to buy around 1.4 million bags of palay from farmers this coming procurement season.

“Traditionally, our farmers in the region start to harvest their produce at the late part of September and early to middle part of October. This will intensify until November. But reports from our field offices proved otherwise as farmers in Dingras and Solsona in Ilocos Norte has started harvesting their palay as early as the last week of August. There are also reports of early harvest in some areas of Alaminos City and Mangatarem in Pangasinan”, Dir. Co said.

This early harvest, Co added, is seen to give further boost to the rice stocks in the region although he said that the level of the agency’s buffer stock for the region is still at a safe level. Buffer stocks refer to the maintenance of the food agency of a year round strategic rice reserve at a minimum level of 15 days of the nation’s rice consumption requirement at any given time.

EARLY HARVEST. Nelson Corpuz of Talugtog, Solsona, Ilocos Norte carries his harvest from his irrigated land on September 3, 2013. This early harvest, NFA said, is a welcome development as it will help boost the rice stocks of the food agency and stabilize the price of rice in the market.

Photo courtesy of Diana Marie G. Agustin.

Co said that the agency’s monitoring of farmers harvest is part of their procurement strategy where the NFA intends to capture a sizable portion of the palay produced by farmers during the main cropping season for the country’s food security stocks.

“We have to be aware of such activities in order for us to make sure that we could procure from our farmers. While at this point, ex-farm price of palay is still high, we are hoping to establish our presence as ready market for the farmers to sell their produce. Our instruction to our field offices is to make sure that our services will reach the most interior farms in the region. That is the reason why we will be fielding mobile procurement teams which will cater to those farmers who find it hard to transport their palay to our buying stations”, disclosed Co.

Comments

Free dormitories eyed for Nueva Era students in LC, Batac

Nueva Era mayor Aldrin Garvida By Dominic B. dela Cruz ( Staff Reporter) Nueva Era , Ilocos Norte—The municipal government here, headed by Nueva Era mayor Aldrin Garvida is planning to establish dormitories in the cities of Laoag and Batac that will exclusively cater to college students from the said cities. “Sapay la kuma ta maituloyen iti mabiit tay ar-arapaapen tayo ken iti munisipyo a maipatakderan kuma dagiti annak tayo a college students nga agbasbasa idiay siyudad iti Batac ken Laoag iti libre a dormitoryo a bukod da ngem inggana nga awan pay ket an-anusan mi paylaeng nga ibaklay kenni apo bise mayor iti pagbayad da iti kasera aggapu iti bukod mi a suweldo malaksid dagitay it-ited iti munisipyo ken iti barangay nga stipend da kada semester, ” Garvida said. Garvida added that the proposed establishment of dormitories would be a big help to the students’ parents as this would shoulder the expenses of their children for rent and likewise they would feel more secured

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

P29 per kilo rice sold to vulnerable groups in Ilocos region

BBM RICE. Residents buy rice for only PHP29 per kilo at the NIA compound in San Nicolas town, Ilocos Norte province on Sept. 13, 2024. The activity was under a nationwide pilot program of the government to sell quality and affordable rice initially to the vulnerable sectors. (Lei Adriano) San Nicolas , Ilocos Norte —Senior citizens, persons with disability, and solo parents availed of cheap rice sold at PHP29 per kilogram during the grand launching of the Bagong Bayaning Magsasaka (BBM) Rice held at the National Irrigation Administration compound in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte province on Sept. 13, 2024. “ Maraming salamat Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. sa inyong pagmamahal sa Region 1 lalong-lalo na sa bayan namin sa San Nicolas,” said Violeta Pasion, a resident Brgy. 18 Bingao in this town. The low-priced grains were sourced from the National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) contract farming with irrigators' association members in the province. Along with Pasion, Epi

The Ilocos Times

Search This Blog