CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Visayas and Bohol second district officials are looking at the possibility of increasing irrigation-fed rice fields in the province.
During a meeting attended by DA regional executive director Salvador Diputado, Rep. Aris Aumentado and the mayors of the 2nd district of Bohol, and the National Irrigation Administration held Monday, they discussed the possibility of increasing the irrigation-feed ricelands of Bohol, according to a post on the DA-7 Facebook page.
The plan was in support of Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s Food Resiliency Program, said Diputado.
“The mayors, the NIA and Bohol 2nd District Congressman Aris Aumentado all agree on the plan and commit to work as one in achieving the goal,” he added.
Rep. Aumentado, NIA-7 regional manager Wilson Lopez and staff, Danao Mayor Jose Cepedoza, San Miguel Mayor Virgilio Mendez, and Dagohoy Mayor Sofronio Apat attended the said meeting.
The group plans to conduct an ocular inspection of the rice fields and the irrigation area of the province that will be covered under the planned project.
Bohol is ranked number one in palay production in the region, according to the Central Visayas Palay and Corn Bulletin for the year 2018.
The province accounts for 72.88 percent of the region’s total palay production in 2018, followed by Negros Oriental at 21.84 percent share; Cebu at 4.49 percent; and Siquijor with 0.78 percent.
The bulk of palay production in 2018 came from irrigated ricefields, which contributed 67.77 percent of the 309,459 metric tons total palay production.
Bohol also led in the irrigated palay production, with a share of 66.5 percent of total irrigated palay production for the same year.
Earlier, Dar had announced that DA would partner with NIA to ‘attain optimum levels of planting and production activities in the coming main rice cropping season’ amid the coronavirus 2019 pandemic.
Irrigated farms produce higher yields, at an average of 4.43 metric tons (MT) of palay per hectare (ha), 1.3 MT more than rainfed areas, at 3.13 MT/ha, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The agriculture department aims to boost palay production to 22.12 million metric tons (MMT) by 2020, which would be equivalent to 13.51 MMT of rice or 93 percent sufficiency, Dar had pointed out./rcg
Irene