DA Senior Usec Panganiban leads in addressing agri concerns before Oro press corps.

 

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – In his first ever visit to Northern Mindanao under President Marcos’ administration, Department of Agriculture (DA) Senior Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban tackled pressing issues and concerns besetting the agri-fishery sector before media practitioners on Tuesday afternoon, March 21, in this city.

During the press conference, members of the Oro press corps from around 15 different media outlets, including the heads of offices and representatives of the Regional Management Committee (RMC) and DA ManCom members in Region 10, attended and participated.

Discussions range from prices of agricultural commodities, African Swine Fever (ASF) contagion, urban agriculture programs, dairy milk enterprise, DA programs and projects’ availment, Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) scholarship, among others.

Asked whether lowering the prices of rice is doable, USec Panganiban reiterated the call of President Marcos, who is also concurrently the DA chief, to reduce the price of rice from the present P40.00 to P20.00.

“That will not happen overnight…This time, through the Kadiwa [ni Ani at Kita], we are selling it at P25.00 [per kilogram], which is coming from the farmers themselves,” the DA senior official responded.

“In due time, probably in the next two or three years, we shall be able to reduce it to P20.00, but not immediately, it has to go down in a sequence.” he underscored.

Likewise, USec Panganiban said that producing more rice is continuously being pursued by the department.

To this, he bared one of the agency’s assistance thru the distribution of fertilizer vouchers for both hybrid and inbred rice growers.

In which, rice farmers planting this 2022-2023 dry cropping season and tilling two hectares and below shall be prioritized.

Farmers cultivating 0.5 hectares and below will be granted a fertilizer subsidy worth P3.3K while for those tilling 0.51 hectares to 2.0 hectares, the voucher value will be computed using one’s rice production area multiplied by P6.6K.

Complementing the agency’s efforts in its bid for food security, DA-10 OIC-Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado also reported the agency’s initiatives to help the region’s swine industry to recover from ASF.

The agri exec highlighted the department’s repopulation and recovery program, where sentinel pigs are provided to declared ASF-stricken barangays by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), and so far, no ASF-related diseases were reported.

“We can say that we are recovering, although not really 100%. And, we are providing support, biosecurity measures, border control, and surveillance teams, with the assistance of the local government units, our BAI quarantine officers, and also other private stakeholders, who are united in protecting the entrance or spread of ASF here in NorMin,” Dir. Collado furthered.

Meanwhile, USec Panganiban bared a potential game-changer thru the Vietnam-produced vaccines against ASF, and pinned his hopes that these will be used rationally in curbing the presence of ASF in the country.

On the production of high-valued crops to aid in the control of prices of various agri commodities, DA is implementing the Urban Agriculture program to advocate the adoption of urban agriculture technologies by means of distributing agricultural inputs and tools to highly urbanized communities.

With onions prone to price hikes, RED Collado particularly shared DA-10’s strides in terms of being able to forge linkages between Bukidnon [Sumilao and Impasug-ong] onion growers and their captured markets.

“We talked to almost onion seed companies to conduct onion derbies not only in farmers’ lands, but also in our research stations, and even in two CdeO barangays. Kailangan tayo magproduce, so we can be more or less sufficient, so that we will not be dependent on outside sources or from Manila or from imported onions.” the director detailed. #