CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Pampanga is one of the contenders for the Rice Achiever Award in the Philippines 2013 after showing positive growth in rice production for the three years.
Thus, said Crispin Guinto, provincial agriculturist as he disclosed that Pampanga registered highest increase in the rice production in Central Luzon making the province to be qualified on the award.
The annual rice production has an average of 100-115 sacks of rice per hectare.
In general, Pampanga has 35, 516 farmers with a farmland of 140,216 hectares producing 47,921 metric tons of palay sufficient enough for the need of the more than two million population of the province.
Guinto clarified that rice sufficiency is not about the price of the rice in the market but the capacity to supply the demand of the people.
“For the past years, we were able to feed the population in the province without resorting to imports. This is how we measure sufficiency,” he explained.
Further, the provincial agriculturist said another qualification for the award is the assistance of the provincial government for the agriculture sector for the improvement of its crop production.
“The support of the local government will also be noted on the competition. With the agriculture enhancement program of the capitol that focuses on farm mechanization plus the sufficiency in production, we can say that Pampanga is a strong contender for the award,” added Guinto.
By JENNA LUMBANG
