THE Department of Agriculture (DA)-Northern Mindanao has facilitated the crafting of the 2024-2028 Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP) plan for Bukidnon amid the pressing challenges hounding the rice industry.
Chona Nacalaban, DA-Northern Mindanao's Rice Program focal person, said the MIDRP is formulated to improve the agricultural production in the country to achieve the government target of 97 percent rice self-sufficiency by 2028.
"The MRIDP is formulated to address the present challenges in the rice industry," Nacalaban said.
The Rice Program of DA-Northern Mindanao led the convergence planning workshop of OneDA, composed of ATI, PhilMech, NIA, and PhilRice. It aims to create a rice industry in the region that is thriving, resilient, and sustainable while boosting the productivity of farmers.
According to the agriculture agency, the Provincial Agriculture Office of Bukidnon, together with the 21 local government units of the province, prepared their plans focusing on markets, innovations, scale, mainstreaming and outcome.
Additionally, the plan will determine solutions to pressing issues on rice, which include farm income, productivity, supply of rice, and competitiveness in the world market.
Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte will be pilot-tested for the program, as the provinces are the rice producers in Northern Mindanao.
The top rice-producing province in the region is Bukidnon, which has an annual production of 295.686 metric tons in CY 2022 with a sufficiency level of 216.51 percent.
The said province also has a total area of 40,799 hectares both for irrigated and rainfed areas or 56.48 percent of Northern Mindanao's total physical area of 75,883 hectares. (SunStar Philippines)