GUIGUINTO, Bulacan—Agriculture officials expressed confidence that Central Luzon’s rice production this year will easily eclipse last year’s production as long as no more typhoon will hit the region.
Redentor Gatus, the regional director of the Department of Agriculture in Central Luzon, said that farmers in the region are headed for better harvest this year.
He said that last year’s rice production in the region amounted to at least 3 million metric tons.
“Based on our projection, we can easily surpass last year’s production, huwag lang babagyo uli bago matapos ang taon,” Gatus said noting that the weather bureau forecasted three more typhoons to hit the country by the end of the year.
He said that better harvest this year can be attributed to better weather conditions that also led to enough irrigation water supply especially in Bulacan.
Last year, rice production in Central Luzon was hampered by the unfavorable weather conditions like the prolonged drought that forced the government to conduct a series of cloud seeding operations.
It was followed by days of continued rain fall that caused flash floods and damaged rice lands and other crops.
Gatus also said that the region’s rice production is supposed to be enough to feed about 10-M residents of Central Luzon.
When asked why the National Food Authority have to import rice some 8 million metric tons of rice for Central Luzon, he said that it was due to the fact that rice produced in the region were also being sold to other provinces.
As this developed, Bulacan agriculture officials and some farmers have agreed that local farmers will have better harvest this year.
Gloria Carillo, the head of the provincial agriculture office said that aside from consistent water supply for irrigation, many local farmers are shifting to organic agriculture that requires less commercial fertilizers.
She said that in the past, some local farmers cannot plant rice because of lack of money to buy fertilizers.
This was affirmed by Melencio Domingo, the head of the City Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Malolos who said that organic rice farming is gaining ground.
He said that a number of farmers in Malolos, Plaridel, Bustos, and San Rafael have starting propagating indigenous rice varieties that require less or not fertilizers.
