NEGROS Occidental, through the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), is getting 38,832 bags of additional certified rice seeds worth about P63 million from the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas this month.
Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said these good quality rice seeds will be distributed for farmers in the province for free provided they are included in the master list of their respective City and Municipal Agriculture Offices.
Masculino said once the stocks arrive, most probably this week, it will then be up for distribution starting in November in time for the second and third cropping season.
“The distribution will be at three drop-off points such as cities of Bacolod, Cadiz, and Kabankalan,” he said, adding that only those in the master list can avail of the planting materials.
For this year, this is the biggest volume of rice seeds intended for the province by the regional line agency. It was supposedly scheduled to arrive three months ago, however, there were no available suppliers.
"These additional stocks for distribution in the province will come from Luzon," Masculino said, adding that they have already distributed the first batches of the buffer including hybrid and certified rice seeds.
The distribution of seeds is one of the regular government programs positioned to address rice deficiency in the country, including Negros Occidental which has a rice self-sufficiency level of 94 percent in 2017 or a shortfall of six percent.
Using certified rice seeds that cost P1,626 per bag will result in additional production of at least 10 bags per hectare.
Given the one hectare per bag ratio, the additional certified rice seeds will cover almost 39,000-hectare rice fields in the province.
Qualified farmers may avail up to three bags, therefore, covering three hectares each.
Masculino said they are optimistic that the impending stocks will hugely contribute to increasing the province's rice production output.
"Having a conservative estimate of at least five cavans increase in production for the 38,000 hectares, this will translate to an additional output of about 190,000 bags," he said, adding that "this is the advantage of using good variety of seeds."