South Leyte tops rice production in Region 8, third nationwide

By BONG PEDALINO (PIA Southern Leyte)
April 13, 2008

SOGOD, Southern Leyte  –  There is no rice problem in the province of Southern Leyte, according to the Provincial Agriculturist.

In fact, Daniel Mayorca, the top man at the provincial Agriculture office, revealed that the province’s rice production yielded 4.79 tons per hectare, making it number one in the list at the Regional level, and number three all throughout the country.

And in addition to that, there is a surplus of 46,000 bags of rice in the latest inventory undertaken by the provincial agriculture office that is now being kept by the farmers, representing the cumulative excesses of the 2007 cropping season up to the month of April, 2008.

“Bentaha ang atong harvest karong 2008 like in Libagon, Bontoc, and Saint Bernard, bisan tuod dunay mga munisipyo nga luya (We have a better harvest in 2008 like in Libagon, Bontoc, and Saint Bernard towns, although other municipalities have weak harvests),” Mayorca told PIA by phone.

Mayorca was in Villa Catalina, a newly-opened resort in this municipality Thursday, April 10, for a target-setting activity for the next planting season from the upcoming months of May up to October.

The whole-day activity, dubbed “Grains Masaganang Ani (GMA) Target-Planning and Preparations for Cropping Season May-October”, seeks to plant more than 1,000 hectares of rice fields with the hybrid variety – this is open to all variety – and another over a thousand hectares covered with certified seeds, Mayorca said.

A more bountiful and productive harvest in October and succeeding months has been expected as a result of the extensive Thursday planning session and its eventual implementation, Mayorca disclosed.

There are a total of 9,000 hectares of land devoted to rice in the province, he added.

Among those attending the target-setting meeting were personnel from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Office, the Municipal/City Agriculture Officers, and a farmer-guest from Davao City who shared some best practices in dealing with the staple food.

Asked how and why the price of rice has risen when there was abundance in the province, Mayorca cannot be categorical, even as he stressed that for Maasin and outlying areas traders from Hilongos are supplying the rice outlets, while the bountiful harvest from the Pacific and other towns, traders from Surigao would come buying the crops.

Mayorca also cited the conversion of farm lands into non-agricultural uses as one of the contributing factors, as well as the reliance of rice in the changing lifestyle of most people as pure food serving every 3-meal day, unlike before where rootcrops like camote and bananas can be had as rice substitutes.

Others attributed the rising population that consequently made a rising demand which the rice supply cannot cope up as reason for the current skyrocketing raise in tag prices.