Pampanga Governor Lilia G. Pineda has expressed her support to local farmers and fisherfolk groups as they appeal to the national government for the reduction of prices on farm inputs, particularly fertilizers.
Pineda said that she is “optimistic that concerned national government officials will seriously consider the appeal of the groups of local farmers and fisher folks as this would be beneficial to the economic and agricultural development of the province and the entire country as well”.
Earlier, Farmer-Leaders Nestor Garcia of the Pampanga Agriculture and Fishery Council (PAFC) and Jose Paguinto of Candaba Municipal Agriculture and Fishery Council (MFAC) relayed their request to the governor citing that the high prices on farm inputs such as seeds, feeds, fertilizers and pesticides cause a big dent on their agricultural production cost.
“For the cost of fertilizer and other material inputs, we spend almost 25 percent” Garcia said as he added that members of their council have been repeatedly complaining of their huge farm expenses. One bag of fertilizer alone would cost P1,200.
The governor assured the farmer-leaders that she would bring their appeal to the attention of the national government, through the Department of Agriculture (DA) which has been very supportive to the development of agriculture in Pampanga for the past couple of years.
“The DA is always there to provide the needed intervention especially after the onslaught of Typhoon Pedring and Quiel”, Pineda said in local dialect. Last year, DA provided seed subsidy support to farmers affected by the typhoon. Pineda also acknowledged Secretary Proceso Alcala’s concern to Pampanga farmers when he visited the province and provided farm machineries worth P16.5 million and other infrastructure projects such as farm to market roads and irrigation projects.
“The development of agriculture is one of the priority thrusts of my administration and I would like to assure our farmers and fisher folks that the officials of the provincial government are exhausting possible strategies to further increase their income and food production in Pampanga,” the governor said.
She reported that last year, some 12,000 bags of certified seeds worth P14 million were distributed to farmers in various municipalities of the province.
Records show that of the total agricultural area of the province, 53,644 hectares are planted with rice, 11,433 hectares with corn and 2,622 hectares with vegetables. About 6,536 hectares are devoted to orchard while 34,466 hectares are fishponds.
More than 32,000 individuals in the province are rice farmers who reported a total of 4,562,400 cavans of rice harvested last planting season.
The governor also urged the National Food Authority (NFA) to put up buying stations in strategic areas of the province to assist farmers in marketing their produce especially during this coming rainy season.
Governor Pineda instructed agriculture officials in the province to coordinate closely with DA Regional Director Andrew Villacorta, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) Executive Director Dr. Eufemio Rasco Jr. and Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) President Honorio Soriano in scouting for a possible site as they have agreed to establish a 30-hectare PhilRice experimental station and rice demo farm in the province.
The project is envisioned to further boost rice production in Pampanga. (Erlinda Yutuc, Pampanga PIO)
