Farmers in Ilocos Sur town receive rice seeds and fertilizers from DA

NARVACAN, Ilocos Sur, July 5 (PIA) – Farmers in this town are now ready for the planting season as they received their share of seeds and fertilizers under the Rice Resiliency Program (RRP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Ilocos. 
 
Hundreds of farmers out of the 5,754 from the four barangays in Narvacan that have registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) received their allocation of free seeds and urea fertilizers from the DA in the Ilocos on June 25.
 
Held at the municipal covered court in Narvacan, the distribution activity was facilitated by the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist, in collaboration with the Rice Banner Program staff in the region.
 
David Dalugdong, a farmer from Bantay-Abut village and the federated president of the Narvacan Farmers Association, is among the recipients of the project who expressed his gratitude to the DA for all the various assistance given to him and to his fellow rice farmers.
 
“Pagyamanak la unay ti DA ta dakkel a banag daytoy libre a naited kadakami gapuanan ta nagnginan dagiti magatgatang aglalo kadagitoy inputs a kas iti bin-i, abono ken dadduma pay a kasapulan mi iti panagtalon, (I really thanked DA for all these interventions given for free especially that almost everything is so expensive now like seeds and fertilizers and all other inputs in farming),” Dalugdong said .
 
According to Dalugdong, he would be able to save at least 50 percent from his farming expenses with the interventions on free seeds and fertilizers he received from DA.
 
Dalugdong also expressed how hopeless life would have been for him and his fellow farmers had they not receive any assistance from the government.
 
But with all the given interventions under the RRP, the future somehow looks brighter now for them.
 
Giving much appreciation on the implementation of the RSBSA project which required national enrolment for all farmers, he emphasized how interventions can now be availed equally by both big and small farm holders.
 
“Nasayaat unay daytoy nga RSBSA ta addan pagibasaran ti taga-DA no siasino dagiti us-usto a mannalon nga agkasapulan ti tulong kas maibasar ti kalawa ti taltalunen na (This RSBSA is very good because it will serve as basis for DA to accurately identify which farmers truly need help and assistance according to his farm area),” he added.
 
Regional Executive Director Lucrecio Alviar, Jr. of DA in the Ilocos has given priority to the immediate distribution of all interventions under RRP by providing needed logistics to make sure that farmers will be able to use these interventions in time for the planting season.
 
With the non-stop distribution activities being done by the DA in the Ilocos’ Rice Banner Program staff, a total of 127,347 bags of hybrid seeds good for 29,457 hectares and 2,087 bags of inbred seeds were already distributed in various municipalities in the region. (JCR/AMB/PIA Ilocos Sur with reports from DA-RFO1, RAFIS)