BACOLOD City – Farmers in Negros Occidental are getting P63 million worth of free certified rice seeds from the Department of Agriculture Region 6.
The seeds will be distributed for free starting next month in time for the second and third cropping seasons, said Japhet Masculino, head of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
Negros Occidental is receiving 38,832 additional bags – the largest volume of rice seeds the Agriculture department allocated to the province this year.
Farmers will get the “good-quality rice seeds” for free only if “they are on the master list of their respective city and municipal agriculture offices,” said Masculino.
Three drop-off points in the cities of Bacolod, Cadiz and Kabankalan will be set up for distribution, he added.
“These additional stocks will come from Luzon. We have already distributed the initial batches of buffer stocks, including hybrid and certified rice seeds,” Masculino said.
With a ratio of 1 hectare per bag, the additional certified rice seeds will cover almost 39,000 hectares of rice fields in the province.
A bag of certified rice seeds, which costs P1,626, is expected to result in a production increase of at least 10 bags per hectare. (PNA
