The Department of Agriculture (DA) and Corteva Agriscience signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the establishment of farming academies in identified low-yielding rice and corn municipalities on October 11, 2019.
“We must always push for innovation-led agriculture,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.
Stressing the importance of utilizing output of technology to increase productivity and profitability of rice and corn farmers, Dar explained that bringing in inclusivity, innovation, and marketing will elevate the Philippine agriculture.
The collaborative project will focus on three areas: Rice EduFarm, Corn EduFarm, and Fall Armyworm Management.
Under the agreement, Corteva targets to establish 50 EduFarms in 25 key municipalities covering a total of 50,000 hectare (ha) with yield improvement target of 1 metric tons (mt) per hectare in 4 planting seasons and 500 Techno Farms within two years.
The project will train 25,000 farmers which will generate to additional food supply for 400,000 Filipino, achieved additional production of 50,000 mt of rice, and additional P750,000 to agricultural gross domestic.
The project will benefit: Nueva Ecija, Zamboanga del Sur, Pampanga, Lanao del Norte, Bataan, Kalinga, Tarlac, Cagayan, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Nueva Vizcaya, Laguna, Zambales, Quirino, Zamboanga Sibugay, Camarines Sur, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Surigao de Sur, Bohol, and Occidental Mindoro.
Each Edufarm will conduct season-long training focused on land and seed preparation, seed applied technology, farm mechanization, proper planting density weed control and nutrient management, and insect and disease control, harvesting, processing, marketing and financial management.
Dar said the partnership is the realization that hybridization and inbred seeds, a result from research, which will be distributed to farmers as part of the implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
He cited that among the top ASEAN member-countries, we are only ranked number 5 because we are not using much technology that we have
Dar said the partnership will further push for the distribution of hybrid and inbred seeds, produced through rigid research. The seeds will be distributed to farmers as part of the implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“No country will ever be competitive without research and development, science and technology. But we, again, have to emphasize that those technologies must be utilized,” Dar said. ### (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
