The Department of Agriculture (DA) has started distributing different agricultural interventions to rice farmers in the Bicol Region for the wet cropping season to ensure enough rice supply ahead of the forecasted La Niña.

In an interview on Monday, DA-Bicol information office chief Lovella Guarin said they provided more than 60,000 bags of hybrid rice, PHP3,400 worth of fertilizer discount per hectare, financial assistance worth PHP5,000 each for farmers cultivating two hectares and below, and biofertilizers to clustered associations.

“The 60,205 bags of hybrid rice will be added to the 147,700 certified seeds distributed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to registered rice farmers in the six provinces,” she said.

A total of 103,675 hectares of rice fields are targeted for planting for the wet cropping season, she added.

The distribution of the hybrid and certified seeds per province is as follows: Albay, 15,500 bags of hybrid rice and 28,815 certified seeds; Camarines Norte, 6,000 hybrid rice and 9,444 certified seeds; Camarines Sur, 26,995 hybrid rice and 66,040 certified seeds; Catanduanes, 800 hybrid rice and 5,012 certified seeds; Masbate, 3,900 hybrid rice and 20,134 certified seeds; and Sorsogon, 7,010 hybrid rice and 18,255 certified seeds.

Guarin said the DA Bicol Rice program has generated 50,972 fertilizer discount vouchers (FDV), of which 5,972 have been claimed by 5,682 rice farmers regionwide.

“The priority beneficiaries of the FDV are hybrid rice farmers,” she said.

The DA will also roll out biofertilizers to clustered associations to lessen the cost of production, specifically fertilizer, and to enhance soil health and fertility.

“Biofertilizers are substances containing a variety of microbes having the capacity to enhance plant nutrient uptake by colonizing the rhizosphere and making the nutrients easily accessible to plants’ root hairs. This is a better alternative to synthetic fertilizers,” Guarin said.

Meanwhile, under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, some 145,153 rice farmers included in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture in the six provinces, cultivating two hectares and below, have received their PHP5,000 cash assistance or a total of PHP734 million under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance.

In a statement, DA-Bicol Regional Executive Director Rodel Tornilla encouraged farmers to plant early to ensure enough rice supply despite the La Niña threat.

“Sa mga magsasaka na hindi pa nakapagtanim noong June, sana po ay makuha na ninyo ang binhi mula sa inyong mga Municipal Agriculturists/City Agriculturists upang maitanim na po agad bago magtapos ang buwan ng Hulyo upang makapag-ani na bago ang last quarter kung saan maaring dumating ang mga bagyo (To those farmers who did not plant in June, I hope you can now get the seeds from your Municipal Agriculturists/City Agriculturists so that they can be planted immediately before the end of July and we can harvest before the last quarter when the storms possibly come),” he said.

Based on the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecast, La Niña has a 69 percent chance of occurrence from July to September. (PNA)