The Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging local government units (LGUs) in the Calabarzon Region to actively participate in the Marcos administration’s Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP) to substantially increase the production of the Filipino staple.

Maricris Ite, Rice Program Coordinator of DA-Calabarzon, on Monday told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that her office has been tasked with orienting local officials on how Masagana can be implemented in their cities and towns, while also gathering agriculture data from the various jurisdictions within the five-province region.

The agriculture official said the MRIDP targets to enable the Philippines to achieve 100 percent rice sufficiency by 2027 but is settling for 90 percent self-sufficiency during its introductory years.

“The program was an initiative of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as a long-term solution in strengthening the value chain where its focus is to increase the production of goods and agricultural products,” Ite said.

She added that LGU agriculture officials must, in turn, orient rice farmers in their respective areas on the four key strategies of the Masagana program — learning climate change resilience, discovering the advantages of farming in clusters, learning basic entrepreneurship skills and adopting modern farming technologies.

LGUs must also leverage the capabilities of the private sector to achieve the MRIDP’s objectives, the DA official emphasized.

Meanwhile, aside from the department’s information campaign targeting LGUs, the DA is also encouraging Calabarzon’s youth to take a renewed interest in agri-business.

Ite said the DA has just concluded a study tour aimed at growing the small businesses established by winners of the recently held Young Farmers Challenge (YFC).

“The purpose of this study tour is to provide YFC awardees with new ideas and inspiration to further grow and develop their business through new technologies, for new products, and to improve their sales and marketing strategy, she noted.

The Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) Start-Up is a competitive financial grant assistance program for the youth who will engage in new agri-fishery enterprises, according to the DA’s website.

Eleven youths who received YFC grants for their envisioned small enterprises came from the Calabarzon region, Ite noted. (PNA)