Negros rice sufficient in 2013

NEGROS Occidental will become self-sufficient in rice by next year, said Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. during the introduction of the Kubota rice harvester-transplanter in the demo farm owned in Valladolid town Monday.

Mayors of the fourth district, namely, La Carlota City Mayor Juliet Marie Ferrer, San Enrique Mayor Mario Magno, Pontevedra Mayor Jose Maria Alonzo and Valladolid Mayor Rommel Yogore, attended the demonstration.

"We are almost there but we're not yet there," Marañon said, citing that this year, Negros Occidental is about 96 percent self-sufficient in rice.

BACOLOD. Kubota’s combined rice harvester and transplanter showed what it can do to modernize rice farming during a demonstration in Valladolid on Monday. (Sun.Star Bacolod photo)

All over the country, Negros Occidental is now the number nine among the top rice producing provinces, he added.

Marañon said Bago City is the rice capital of Negros Occidental, crediting the Bago River Irrigation System for providing irrigation services to about 13,000 hectares of rice fields in Bago City, San Enrique, Pontevedra and La Carlota City.

Meanwhile, the rice harvester that was provided by the Department of Agriculture is considered the most efficient facility in the country's goal to mechanize the rice industry.

Marañon said the farmers can save a lot using the rice harvester that features the four procedures of harvesting rice.

The rice harvester was demonstrated in Barangay Dulao, Bago City twice and in Valladolid on Monday.

Marañon said the agriculturists of the towns and cities all over the province will be trained to adopt the new system in the rice industry.

The machinery was already in use in other rice producing countries about 20 to 30 years ago, he said. (TDE)