SAN JOSE, Antique – Farmers in Sibalom town have availed themselves of free agricultural inputs from the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Rice Resiliency Project.
Albert Estoya, chief of the Sibalom municipal agriculture office, said that 9,138 bags of urea fertilizer, 1,220 bags of hybrid seeds and Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) certified inbred seeds were distributed to the rice farmers.
The turnover of the free agricultural inputs on June 9 was led by DA-6 director Remelyn Recoter.
“Farmers in Sibalom no longer have to worry about their farm inputs as they are starting to plant already,” said Estoya.
According to him, Sibalom – biggest municipality in this province with 76 barangays – has a palay area of 6,500 hectares.
“We have 3,650 hectares of irrigated rice land. The average palay yield per hectare on irrigated land is 4.2 metric tons,” he said.
“With the free farm inputs, the farmers are now assured that they have free seeds and fertilizers to use,” Estoya added.
As of June 11, 75 farmer associations around the municipality under the umbrella association of the Sibalom Alliance of Rural Based Organization have already received seeds from the DA.
“We distributed the seeds through the farmer associations,” he said.
A farmer under the Expanded Inbred and RCEF can get two free bags of urea fertilizer after purchasing two bags of fertilizers.
Those who use hybrid seeds, on the other hand, should first buy two bags of fertilizer to receive three bags of urea fertilizer from the DA.
A farmer is advised to keep the sacks of the palay certified or hybrid seeds and receipt of purchase from a DA-accredited store to claim the free fertilizers.(With a report from PNA/PN)
