Ready for the planting season, farmers of Narvacan in the province of Ilocos Sur has finally received their share of seeds and fertilizers from the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office I during its scheduled distribution on June 25, 2020.

Hundreds of farmers from the four barangays in Narvacan out of the 5,754 farmers registered from the Registry of Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) received their allocation of free seeds and urea fertilizers from DA in Ilocos as part of the on-going distribution of the interventions under its Rice Resiliency Program.

Held at the Municipal Covered Court in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, the distribution activity was facilitated by the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist in collaboration with the Rice Banner Program in the region.

Mr. David Dalugdong, a farmer from Bantay-Abut, Narvacan, Ilocos Sur and the Federated President of the Narvacan Farmers Association is among the thousands of recipients of the project who expressed his gratitude to the officialdom of DA with all these various assistance given to him and to his fellow rice farmers.

“Pagyamanak la unay ti DA ta dakkel a banag daytoy libre a naited kadakami gapuanan ta nagnginan dagiti magatgatang aglalo kadagitoy inputs a kas iti bin-i, abono ken dadduma pay a kasapulan mi iti panagtalon, (I really thanked DA for all these interventions given for free especially that almost everything is so expensive now like seeds and fertilizers and all other inputs in farming).”, Dalugdong expressed with much gratefulness to DA.

According to Mr. Dalugdong, he would be able to save at least 50% from his farming expenses with the interventions on free seeds and fertlizers he received from DA.

Dalugdong also expressed how hopeless life would have been for him and his fellow farmers had they not receive any assistance from the government. But with all the given interventions under the RRP, the future somehow looks brighter now for them.

Giving much appreciation on the implementation of the RSBSA project which required national enrolment for all farmers, Mr. Dalugdong emphasized how interventions can now be availed equally by both big and small farm holders.

“Nasayaat unay daytoy nga RSBSA ta addan pagibasaran ti taga-DA no siasino dagiti us-usto a mannalon nga agkasapulan ti tulong kas maibasar ti kalawa ti taltalunen na,” Mr. Dalugdong added. (This (RSBSA) is very good because it will serve as basis for DA to accurately identify which farmers truly need help and assistance according to his farm area.)

DA-RFO I Regional Executive Director Lucrecio R. Alviar, Jr. has given priority to the immediate distribution of all interventions under RRP by providing needed logistics to make sure that farmers will be able to use these interventions in time for the planting season.

With the non-stop distribution activities being done by the DA-RFO I Rice Banner program staff, a total of 127,347 bags of hybrid seeds good for 29,457 has. and 2,087 bags of inbred seeds were already distributed in various municipalities in the region.