The province of Antique is 159.33 percent sufficient in rice.

Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) chief Nicolasito Calawag said in an interview Tuesday that as of Nov. 30, their office recorded a total production of 248,334.28 metric tons from the 61,420.48 hectares of rice farms throughout the province.

“Of the 69,262.29 hectares total rice area planted, there were 41,402.54 hectares irrigated area, 25,414.74 hectares were rain-fed and 2,445.01 hectares were upland,” he said.

Calawag said the actual number of farmers who planted rice this year was 60,796 for both wet and dry seasons.

He added various forms of assistance were provided to the farmers through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program.

The RCEF program provided 38,653 bags of seeds to Antique, of which 35,381 bags or 91.5 percent had been delivered and planted by farmers in 18 municipalities.

Meanwhile, Nancy Montecastro, OPA in charge of the high-value crops and vegetables production, said that despite the calamities that hit Antique this year, the farmers were still able to plant and apply the farm inputs on time because of the seeds, fertilizers and other farm inputs provided them through the RCEF.

“There were also several briefings and trainings that were conducted among the farmer participants that had made them aware on how to increase their yield,” Montecastro said. (PNA)