Skip to main content

Hybrid rice farmers get insurance

Image
By
Agriculture Sec. Procy Alcala speaks to Ilocos Norte farmers in his recent visit to the province. (Lei Adriano photo)
By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter

LAOAG CITY—The Dept. of Agriculture is giving out crop insurance coverage to encourage farmers to invest in hybrid rice seeds.

The insurance coverage, which has a maximum of P10,000 per hectare, is a bid to entice farmers to switch to hybrid rice seed which the DA sees as step towards the country’s food sufficiency.

DA Region I executive director Valentino Perdido said around 20,000 hectares planted with hybrid rice seeds covering the entire region are now insured this planting calendar.

According to Mr. Perdido, all farmers in the region who may want to plant hybrid rice seeds can avail of crop insurance to enable the rice sector to recover from production losses due to previous typhoons that hit this northern part of Luzon.  

Agriculture officials, led by Secretary Proceso Alcala, visited Ilocos Norte recently to encourage more farmers to plant hybrid rice despite the higher investment it entails because “it is worth it”.

Hybrid rice seeds can yield as much as seven to eight metric tons (MT) per hectare compared to inbred varieties which only yield between four to five MT per hectares. High yielding varieties are grown by both private and state entities.


Because of the high cost of hybrid seeds and farm inputs, the DA with counterpart funding from local government units is giving out soil ameliorants, hybrid seeds and fertilizer subsidy to farmers in Ilocos Norte. Some farmers however prefer to use inbred varieties because it is cheaper and it requires lesser irrigation.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marcos town celebrates 3rd Pinakbet Festival

By
MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—Taking pride of this town ’s favorite Ilo cano dish, locally known as pinakbet, a mix of indigenous vegetables steamed in fish sauce, residents here ushered the opening of the third Pinakbet festival. “Pinakbet” came from the contracted Ilokano word ‘pinakebbet ’ which means “ shrunk ” or “shriveled.” As a way of thanksgiving, the Pinakbet festival is a repository of the town ’ s “ani” [harvest] festival being celebrated every month of March but this was later moved to December to accommodate more balikbayans wanting to join the festivity. Residents in this agricultural town derived most of their income from the harvest of high value crops, including rice, tobacco and corn as staple crops. This year, the week-long festivity highlighted a grand parade around the town plaza and a pinakbet cook fest at the municipal gymnasium to showcase the best pinakbet in town. A boodle fight followed suit. Earlier, a fun run was participated by various groups ...
6 comments
Read more

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By
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...
15 comments
Read more

Agpada kadi ti Sarusar ken Agamang?

By
Ni Leonardo R. Agunoy AGTAUD a kasla uong dagiti saludsod kadakami no agpada kadi ti sarusar ken agamang? Maysa a kabsatmi a mannurat iti Iloko (agdadamo) ti nagtaudan dayta a saludsod. Makapaisem  a saan dayta a bugas ti saludsod. Ngem, gapu ngata ta addatayon iti agdama a modernization, awan metten ti makitkita a sarusar wenno agamang dagiti pada a mannalon ditoy Kailokuan. Iti biangmi, napintas unay a sungbatan ken ilawlawag batay ti nanumo nga ammomi. Agduma ngamin ti masasao a bengngat (diction) ti tunggal lugar. Adda lugar kas koma ditoy Ilokos, sarusar  ti awagmi (rice granary) idinto nga agamang ti awagna iti sabali a lugar. Adda pay lugar ti Kailokuan a ti awagda iti sarusar, agamang; kamalig, kunada. Mabalin a nasken a mailawlawag tapno sakbay a  malebganen dagitoy a balikas weno awag iti maysa a banag, agtalinaedto pay laeng nga adda ti pamalatpatan dagiti sumarsaruno a kaputoptan ni Ilokano. Kas ti balikas a labba (idiay Cagayan ken Ilocos Sur?), ...
Post a Comment
Read more