Villasis boosts town’s rice production with subsidies
VILLASIS, a largely agricultural town and known as the eggplant capital of Pangasinan, is enhancing its rice production through a local government loan and subsidy program for farmers.
In the pilot program tagged as ‘clustering’, an almost P1.8 million worth of farm subsidies were distributed beginning March to 10 barangays.
“This is another way of helping our farmers,” said Mayor Libradita Abrenica, whose town was named among the country’s top 10 rice producers for 2012 by the Department of Agriculture.
The subsidy included rice certified seeds, urea, and complete fertilizer that have been priced lower than commercial rates.
The rice seeds were set at P800 per bag against the prevailing market price of P1200; the urea at P900/bag vs. the market’s P1090/bag rate; and the fertilizer at P1,090/bag vs. P1,120.
The initial implementation of the clustering project covered 150 hectares of 10 villages, namely: Barraca, Bacag, San Blas, Lomboy, Piaz, Puelay, Unzad, Tombod, Amamperez, and Barangobong.
Municipal Agriculturist Cornelio Atchuela said farmers are expected to pay the subsidized farm supplies after harvest.
The farmers are given two options: first, the municipal government will harvest, buy, then dry their produce, or second, the municipal government will harvest and dry the grains and the farmers — after paying for the usage of the drying facility — can sell their product to the government or to the market.
NEW FACILITIES
Villasis recently purchased one first-class German-tech harvester/thresher machine that cost the town P2 million and constructed a multimillion-peso drying facility imported from Malaysia.
The facility, which doubles as free warehouse for the farmers, was initiated by 5th District Rep. Kimi Cojuangco.
The 2.5-hectare lot in Barangay Unzad where the facility has been built was recently bought by the municipal government while the cost of the warehouse and equipment came from the town’s share from the tobacco excise tax.
The new farm facilities had undergone a dry-run that served their farmers without charge and the municipal government was able to harvest and dry 1,671 bags, equivalent to a harvest of around 16 hectares in a period of less than a month.
The drying facility, currently the biggest in the province, is able to produce the same quality of grain as the traditional drying and saves the 4.5% lost in solar drying on road pavements.
Engr. Gilbert Nebres, facility manager, said the harvester/thresher machine works alongside the town’s five tractors to guarantee faster and better quality and quantity resulting in more income for all the farmers from its 21 barangays.
The town is considering the purchase of five more harvester/threshers.
Last year, Villasis had a total rice production of 14,575 bags worth about P17.5 million.–Johanne R. Macob
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
