M’LANG, North Cotabato — Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, saying farmers must prepare for the lifting of quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice, on Friday, February 3, 2017, turned over nearly P90-million worth of farm machineries and equipment as well as livestock and palay seeds to 1,500 farmer beneficiaries here.
Piñol said the department has fast-tracked the delivery of the initiative to help Filipino farmers from threats expected from the coming of imported rice.
“Our only option is to produce better quality rice that can compete with the quality of the imported rice,” Piñol said.
“Our president understands that alongside national security, food security should be our primary concern,” Piñol said.
Piñol gave assurances that President Rodrigo Duterte would continue providing initiatives to farmers that address their basic needs.
The farmer-beneficiaries received four units of thresher, 34 units of shallow tube wells, six rice processing centers, two units of rice reaper, one transplanter (riding-type), 36 open-source pumps, 12 units of multiplier farm (module), and two cattle (module).
The initiatives also included 14,402 bags of certified palay seeds, 6,390 bags of certified palay seeds, 1,090 bags of hybrid palay seeds (fund transfer to LGU-M’lang), and 9, 558 bags of hybrid corn seeds.
Piñol was accompanied by DA-12 Regional Executive Director Milagros Casis.
The DA chief’s visit here marked the launching in Barangay New Janiuay of the country’s first solar-powered small-scale irrigation system capable of providing water to about 70 hectares of rice farms.
The 50-horsepower pump is powered by fifty solar panels and could pump out up to 400 gallons of water “even under overcast skies,” Piñol said.
Piñol also launched here the “Circle of Life” fish-growing tanks, which the DA will promote as an alternative livelihood and food source for farming communities around the country.
An innovative and cheap technology designed by Rocky French, the “Circle of Life” uses two cylindrical three-feet tall tanks as growing area for tilapia fingerlings and vegetables through aquaponics.
The fish tank could produce up to 10,000 tilapia fingerlings to an average size of 3 to 4 kilos per fish in four to five months using the “Venturi System” while the other tank could grow “kangkong.” The “kangkong” will serve as natural filter for the used water from the fish tank, and the filtered water is pumped back to the tilapia tank.
DA-Region 12 also awarded total of P9, 848,500 for the Agri-Fishery Enterprise Support Project under the Normalization Program. (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
In photo — Secretary Manny gives a brief description of the “Circle of Life” fish-growing tanks set-up in Barangay New Janiuay during its launching on Februuary 3. The system uses two concrete cylindrical tanks as growing area for Tilapia fingerlings and growing area of vegetables through aquaponics. ### (Photo by Alan Jacalan, AFID)
