CL bags awards in Rice Achievers Awards 2012

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Central Luzon provinces and local government units have carted awards in the recently concluded Rice Achievers Awards that aims to recognize efforts of the Department of Agriculture and the local government units in the rice sufficiency program of the National Government.

DA regional director Andrew Villacorta told Sun.Star Pampanga that the provinces of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija bagged the awards in the provincial category, bringing home P4 million each under the program will be used to further boost agricultural initiatives in each of the provinces.

Awardees in the municipal category include Talavera, Guimba, Gen. Tinio, Llanera, Sta. Rosa, San Rafael, Sto. Domingo, Cuyapo, and Lupao towns all in Nueva Ecija with each of the towns to receive P1 million as part of the cash award of the program. This means that nine out of 48 rice producing towns in the region bagged the awards.

Villacorta added that 87 out of 443 extension workers of the DA were also recognized in the awards program with each receiving P20,000 each. The awards were based on the accomplishments of the towns and provinces in the national production target of the DA and with regards to income in yield and production versus 2011 statistics.

“This is a clear indication of the accomplishments of the DA in partnership with local government units in batting for rice sufficiency in Central Luzon,” Villacorta said.

Earlier, Central Luzon has obtained a 138-percent sufficiency level last year, despite being devastated by torrential rains brought by the southwest monsoon.

“For the two cropping seasons, Central Luzon was able to produce 3,220,607 metric tons (MT) of rice out of the 675,781 hectares area harvested, attaining an average yield of 4.77 MT per hectare,” Villacorta said.

He added that production in 2012 was 23 percent higher than 2011’s 2,616,083 MT contributing 18 percent to the national production in support to the Food Staple Self-Sufficiency Program.

He attributed the immediate recovery from the calamity and growth in production through the convergence of climate change adaptation measures of national government agencies and local government units.

Moreover, corn production (yellow and white) attained 210,469 MT with an average yield of 5.20 MT per hectare in 2012 which is 11.66 percent higher as compared to 2011’s 188,494 MT.

As part of the Corn Program, cassava production reached 45,875 MT which is 268-percent higher than 2011’s 12,454 MT with an average yield of 16.25 MT per hectare.