SAN JOSE, Occidental Mindoro (PIA) – In line with the president’s endeavor to further increase the local agricultural production, the Department of Agriculture-High Value Crops Development Program (DA-HVCDP) Mimaropa recently awarded P4, 621,000 worth of farm machineries and equipment for more than 300 farmers in the province.

Nine (9) farmer cooperatives and associations (FCAs) from various municipalities in the province were granted Pump Irrigation System for Open Source (PISOS), and another nine (9) FCAs received Shallow Tube Well (STW).

According to OIC Agricultural Program Coordinating Office (APCO) Renie B. Madriaga, irrigation equipment are a timely response to help the farmers in mitigating the effects of El Niño.

Lilybeth Prudente, Chairperson of New Maduron Country Farm Multi-Purpose Cooperative from the municipality of Paluan shared how the equipment will help ease their vegetable production.

“Malaking tulong po ito sa aming kooperatiba when it comes sa pagtatanim ng gulay kasi instead na gagamit kami ng bomba…bibili ka na lang ng krudo para roon sa makina, then yung tubig kusa na siyang dadaloy sa taniman” (This is a big help for our cooperative when it comes to vegetable production because instead of using manual water pump, you can just buy gasoline to power the machine and the water will flow automatically in the fields), Prudente shared.

Additionally, one unit of four-wheel drive tractor was awarded to Unlad Magsasaka Agriculture Cooperative from Paluan, and 116 units of plastic crates were also distributed to six FCAs.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. reiterated in his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) that one of the strategies for boosting agricultural production at the local level is through modernization and mechanization. Under PBBM’s regime, more than 28,000 machineries had been granted to farmers across the province.

Marcos also highlighted the government’s efforts in aiding the farmers with the high production cost brought about by the skyrocketing prices of imported chemical fertilizers. 

One of the government’s initiatives is promoting the use of balanced fertilization strategy (BFS), or the combined application of organic and inorganic fertilizers based on the crop and soil nutrient which will help reduce the farmers’ production cost and dependency on chemical fertilizers.

On this note, the DA-HVCDP Mimaropa also awarded 750 bags of fortified organic fertilizers to Provincial Government of Occidental Mindoro (PGOM) and Bureau of Correction-Sablayan Prison and Penal Colony (BuCor -SPPC), with the latter receiving a Multi-cultivator machine as well.

Corrections Senior Inspector Atty. Frederick Charles Y. Lim of the BuCor – SPPC underscored that the inputs will greatly benefit the FCAs who will be cultivating more than 200 hectares (ha) of land of their office under a joint venture agreement.

“Malaking maitutulong ng mga kagamitan na ito…partikular sa SPPF, dahil ang mga activities namin ay agriculture na bahagi ng reformation program ng PDLs” (The interventions will significantly help particularly for the SPPF because our activities for the PDLs include agriculture for their reformation program), Lim added.

The interventions were funded by the DA National Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Program (NUPAP) with its partner-agencies, which main goal is to increase food production in the local level, and lessen the logistic cost in order to soften the impact of global concerns like food security, climate change and the rising costs of fuel and other inputs. (DSG/PIA Mimaropa-OccMin)