DA doles out 1-M bags of palay seeds

The Department of Agriculture (DA) so far has distributed 1,042,390 bags of seeds to rice farmers tilling a total of 1.25 million hectares.

The seed distribution is part of government efforts to raise palay production to 10.54 million metric tons for this planting period and enable the country to become at least 98 percent sufficient in rice by 2010.

In a report to Agriculture  Secretary Arthur Yap,  Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA)  Rice Program national coordinator director Frisco Malabanan said that as of mid-July, the area where the seeds have been distributed to farmers represent close to 50 percent of the coverage target of 2.571 million hectares this wet season.

The wet planting season covers the months of May to October.

Malabanan said that for the main crop, the DA aims to plant hybrid seeds in 117,277 hectares of land across the country; certified seeds in 1.163 million hectares; good quality seeds in 407, 208 hectares; and Farmers’ Home Save Seeds ( FHSS) in 883,742 hectares.

So far, Malabanan said, areas planted with hybrid seeds now cover 50,890 hectares; certified seeds, 495,631 hectares; good quality seeds, 52,653 hectares; and FHSS, 637,059 hectares.