Agencies seek solutions to insufficient rice production in Negros

DUMAGUETE CITY: The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will conduct a technical review of the rice industry in Negros Oriental to determine the causes of insufficient production, an official said Wednesday. Alejandro Rafal, DA - Provincial Agriculture Technology Coordinating Office (DA-PATCO) chief, said in an interview that Bayawan City is the pilot area for Central Visayas for technical assistance under the ADB's Southeast Asia Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development Facility program. 'The technical assistance will map out gaps on why we always have insufficient rice production despite the government investing millions of pesos in seeds, machinery, post-harvest facilities, and other financial assistance,' Rafal said in mixed English and Cebuano. 'We have been trying over the years to bring up our yield but the Philippines has remained insufficient in rice production.' Factors include devolved functions from the DA to the local chief executives/local governm ent units, weather conditions, and climate change, he said. The cost of production where farmers cannot afford to complement the necessary resources to improve rice productivity has also aggravated the problem, he added. The Bayawan United Farmers Irrigators Association, chosen as the pilot for the compact rice industry, will be the subject of the technical review on Thursday, with key officials from the DA central office and ADB in attendance, he said. Also invited to the stakeholders' engagement are provincial and LGU officials. Rafal said they have to double their efforts to fill the gaps in the rice industry in response to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s directive that the Philippines become 90 percent self-sufficient in rice production by the end of his term. Source: Philippines News agency