PH’s Biggest Rice Seed Production Area Eyed in N. Samar

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will transform San Roque, Northern Samar from being a poverty-stricken town into the biggest rice seed production center in the country this year.

In a post on his social media account Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the project will tap about 2,000 hectares for the production of seeds of high-yielding rice varieties developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

The project, a major component of the Samar Rice Development Program (SRDP), is a joint project of the DA, PhilRice, San Roque town local government, a private company, and farmers.

The SRDP, which is up for launching this year, targets about 100,000 to 200,000 hectares of rich lands into rice production areas.

“Under the program, a private seed production group will set up a nucleus farm of 200-hectares, establish rice seeds processing facilities and a refrigerated warehouse for seeds storage. The private seed production group will engage farmers of San Roque in a seed production contract where the seeds from the farmers will be bought by the company,” Piñol explained.

Under the agreement, DA and PhilRice will support the program by providing the farmers with technical training, equipment and loan support. Farm-to-market roads and solar-powered irrigation systems will also be installed in the seed production areas of the farmers.

The agriculture department will purchase the seeds produced in San Roque town to be distributed to the farmers in the rest of Samar Island, including parts of Leyte. The San Roque local government will be tasked to consolidate the areas to be developed into seed production areas.

San Roque is a fourth class town in Northern Samar located 280 kilometers north of Tacloban City, the regional capital.

The SRDP will be the first major beneficiary of the Rice Tarrification Program with an estimated PHP10-billion fund for 2019. The project seeks to introduce new rice farming technologies and equipment to develop areas and contribute to a bigger national rice production and poverty reduction in Samar Island.

“From the current average of two metric tons per hectare average yield in the island, the SRDP targets an average production of six metric tons by introducing high-yielding rice varieties developed by PhilRice and commercial hybrid seeds and solar irrigation systems in the vast rain-fed areas of the island,” Piñol said.

By 2020, the SRDP is expected to contribute an estimated 1.2 million metric tons of paddy rice to the national production, which would make Samar Island as one of the country’s major rice-producing areas, the DA chief said.

The DA will organize the Project Management Office tasked to handle and monitor the implementation of the SRDP. It will be chaired by the DA Secretary with the heads of the other support agencies as members. (PNA)