SAMAL, Bataan — The Department of Agriculture through the municipal agriculture office distributed free certified palay seeds to farmers here.
Samal municipal agriculturist Nora Medina explained that the distribution of palay seeds was part of the DA’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP) that is going on for about six years.
“Through the RCEP, farmers receive free palay seeds, free fertilizers, free farm machineries, financial assistance and even training,” she said.
Medina said that a farmer gets free palay seeds depending on the area of the riceland he tills. For a hectare of land, for example, a farmer is entitled to a 40-kilo bag of certified palay seeds.
In Samal, there are more than 800 beneficiaries of RCEP tilling 1,070 hectares of land planted to palay, she added.
Farmers were grateful for the assistance given to them by government but asked for additional palay seeds.
Farmer Abner dela Cruz of Barangay San Juan when asked what he can say about government’s assistance to farmers answered: “Mabuti ito pero sana dagdagan pa ng kaunti dahil kinakapos, bumibili pa ng pandagdag.”
He added that government should continue on helping the farmers. “Dapat tuloy-tuloy,” Dela Cruz appealed.
Samal municipal administrator Jay Sammy Lat who witnessed the palay seeds distribution said that Mayor Alex Acuzar was thankful to the DA for its assistance to Samal farmers.
“Mayor Acuzar wants the best for farmers in the town and he is hoping that more assistance will come to augment the municipality’s program for the agriculture and fishery sectors,” Lat said.
