Farmers from 5th Dist. Receive Farm Inputs

Lingayen- - -Farmers in the nine municipalities of the 5^th congressional district benefitted anew with another wave of Agricultural Technology Enhancement Assistance Program (ATESAP) comprising of various farm inputs and materials on June 11 at the Provincial Agricultural Office in Tebag, Sta. Barbara town.

In addition to this, eight organized groups also received 400 fruit-bearing tree seedlings as part of the provincial government’s thrust to mitigate climate change through reforestation activities.

For farm inputs and materials, each municipality in District 5 received 100 bags of certified palay seeds, 200 bags of urea fertilizer, 200 bags of complete (14-14-14) fertilizer, and 1,000 bags of organic fertilizer.

Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr., who led the distribution ceremony, commended the farmers for working very hard to increase their yield. 

With the enhancement of agricultural productivity, according to the governor, Pangasinan was adjudged three times as one of the Outstanding Provinces in the Philippines as Rice Achiever Awardee.

The governor affirmed that Pangasinan will remain as an agricultural province for the next 30 to 50 years. Thus, he stressed the need to further enhance agriculture as vitally important.

He further noted that while the province still remains unindustrialized as of present, the need to increase agricultural yield is pivotal for us to supply the agricultural requirements of industrialized areas like Cavite and other key provinces.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg) reported 50 percent of the total cost of the farm inputs estimated as P4,010 received by the farmer is covered by a subsidy from the provincial government which is payable upon receiving the farm inputs.

ATELAP was launched in 2012 while seedling distribution project was launched during the first few months of the Espino administration in 2007.

To date, the provincial government has distributed around 723,837 pieces of assorted forest and fruit bearing tree seedlings under the Provincial Tree Planting and Reforestation Project.

Separate program on the distribution of certified palay dubbed Accelerated Certified Seed Production and Distribution program, the only existing program in the country, is also part of the present administration’s strategic scheme to boost the province’s agricultural yield.

Since its launching in 2010, a total of 19,333 bags of certified palay seeds were distributed to include its recent release last June 6. (Ruby R. Bernardino)