CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar led the distribution of seeds and fertilizers under the Rice Resiliency Project (RRP) to farmer-beneficiaries of Tarlac province Thursday, July, 16, 2020.

The RRP is one of the projects under the Ahon Lahat, Pagkain Sapat kontra Covid-19 (Alpas Covid-19), also known as “Plant, Plant, Plant Program), which aims to increase local rice production to combat global trade uncertainties and put the country into a more food-secure position during this Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 30 bags of inbred rice seeds and 180 bags of urea fertilizers were distributed.

RRP farmer-beneficiary Efren Mendoza of Barangay San Isidro, Paniqui thanked the DA for the support.

"This is a great help from the Department of Agriculture. This will ensure that we will have better crops this harvest season," said Mendoza

One of the components of the RRP is the Expanded Inbred Rice Production. Under this component, one bag of inbred certified seeds (40 kilograms) shall be given per hectare basis. Further, the distribution of fertilizers shall be on a buy two, take two scheme: two bags of urea (50 kg/bag) per hectare shall be provided to farmer-beneficiaries given that they first purchase or buy two bags of urea with an official receipt/sales invoice to be submitted during the claiming of output.

In his message, the agri chief challenged the recipients to increase their yield of rice production from 3.5 metric tons to 7 metric tons per hectare, to which the audience positively responded.

The event was also attended by Paniqui Mayor Leonardo M. Roxas, Vice Mayor Aida D. Roxas, Councilor Mary Anne Fernandez, Municipal Agriculturist George M. Payumo, and ABC President Linda Manuel.