By Reynaldo E. Andres
Contributor
The efforts of the Dept. of Agriculture Region 1 in enticing farmers to increase
their farm areas planted to rice and corn this year has led to a dramatic
increase in the yields of both crops. As a result, the region’s
self-sufficiency in both staple grains in 2013 went up to 180 and 159 percent,
respectively.
In a report presented by DA Region 1
Executive Director Valentin C. Perdido which was based on DA’s roadmap for
2013-2014, the region has reached its production target on rice alone
contributing at least 10 percent to the country’s buffer stock of this staple
grain for 2014. As proof, from a yield of 1,750,007 metric tons (MT) in 2013,
it went up to an aggregate yield 1,765,000 MT this year or an increase of 15
MT.
“Because of this, Region 1 became the
number four rice producing region in the country which contributed at least 10
percent to the 18,439,406 MT national output this year,” Dr. Perdido said.
“Although the roadmap showed that Ilocos
Norte and Ilocos Sur suffered a slight decrease of their productions which is
from a joint production of 527,000 MT in 2013 to 504,000 MT this year,
Pangasinan and La Union filled in the productivity drop by contributing a
little higher this year,” Perdido said adding that from the two provinces’
aggregate production of 1,223,000 MT in 2013, it harvested 1,261,000 MT this
year.
Presenting the current production trends
of both crops during the National Conference on Agriculture and Fisheries held
at the Teatro Ilocandia, Dr. Perdido noted that Pangasinan, which has the
widest land area devoted to rice, had been consistently increasing its buffer
stocks since 2011 followed by La Union. This is in contrast with the yields of
farmers in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur which showed a consistent gap from their
targeted yields in 2011 to 2014.
On the other hand, the yield of corn,
which is considered as main crop after rice, has continued to increase in the
four provinces. From an aggregate production of 453,017 MT in 2013, it went up
to 488,506. Thus, the region 1 became the number five corn producing area in
the country which contributed at least 6.1 to the 7,377,706 MT of corn produced
this year.
“If this good production trend continues
to happen in the next seasons, we will expect to harvest 517,123 MT in 2015 and
about 548,453 MT in 2016,” Dr. Perdido predicts.
Farmers in the four provinces has been
enjoying their production output in corn since 2011. In Pangasinan, for
instance, from a yield of 296,532 MT in 2013, it went up to 316,847 MT in 2014.
If weathers prevail in the next cropping seasons, the province can project
335,084 MT in 2015 and 353,999 MT in 2016.
The same thing happened in Ilocos Norte
this year. From an overall output of 56,867 MT in 2013, it went up to 65,126 MT
this year or an increase of 8,867 MT. With this production flow, Dr. Perdido
can project a 69,709 MT yield in 2015 and 74,706 MT in 2016.
Other commodities that increased its
yield are vegetables and meat which contributed much to the region’s
self-sufficiency in food. This year, production of high-value commercial
vegetables went up from 167 percent to 169 percent, while volume of meat
products increased from 122 percent to 123 percent.
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