LINGAYEN – The provincial government distributed 4, 100 more bags of certified palay seeds to farmers who were affected by Typhoon Lando that devastated the province in October last year as part of the province’s rehabilitation effort for farmers to recover from their losses and boost their production.
The distribution held at the Provincial Agriculture Office in Sta. Barabara on January 19 which was led by Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. along with Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr. and Liga ng mga Barangay Provincial President Amado “Pogi” I. Espino, Jr. benefitted some 4, 000 farmers from the various irrigators associations in the province.
Among the recipients of the latest distribution include farmers from the Agno River Irrigation System (Agno RIS), Agno-Sinocalan RIS, Lower Agno RIS, Agno-Dipalo RIS, San Fabian RIS and the Pangasinan Federation of Irrigators Association.
Provincial Agriculturist Dalisay Moya said the activity was a continuation of the distribution conducted in November, 2015 where the province gave earlier beneficiaries farm inputs which included 15, 584 bags of certified inbred palay seeds, 15, 051 bags of hybrid palay seeds and assorted vegetable seeds, mungbean seeds and onion seeds.
The farmer recipients are those who will plant palay during the second and third cropping for the year 2016 whose farms are located in fully irrigated palay areas being served by the National Irrigation System whom the province closely coordinates with to assure the availability of irrigation water in the project areas, acting assistant provincial agriculturist Nestor Batalla said.
Gov. Espino has urged the farmers to strive harder and learn new and modern technologies to improve their farming skills in order to increase their yield reiterating that Pangasinan remains to be an agricultural province in the next 40 to 50 years.
He said that the province has made various moves to improve agriculture citing as example the re-regulating pond project (Phase II) of the Sn. Roque Multi-Purpose Dam inaugurated last year expressing hope that this will bolster the produce of farmers.
He also stressed the need for the government to subsidize the inputs of farmers as this will provide more opportunity to boost their production as he cited the high cost of farm inputs in the country.
“Nararamdaman naming mga liders kung ano ang inyong nararamdaman, gusto kong ipaabot sa bawat isa sa ating mga kababayan na ang farmers ay ang backbone ng society na kahit halos hindi kumikita ay pinagpapatuloy pa rin ang kanilang pagsasaka,” the governor said.
The governor told the farmers that he will seek the help of Vice Governor Calimlim and BM Pogi to facilitate at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan a supplemental budget of P10 million to fund the request for water pumps to mitigate the ill effects of the El Nino phenomenon expected to affect the country.
Rest assured, “nakalaan kaming tumulong sa inyo”  the governor said as he disclosed that the province is set to construct 183 shallow tube wells in the next two months and work on the repair of 32 communal irrigation systems also to address the effects of El Nino.