Eat more veggies to lessen rice consumption - DA Region VII

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture in Region VII is urging the public to eat more vegetables as way not just to get more nutrients for the body but also to lessen rice consumption.

DA-7 chief for Crops Division, George Paculba, said that on average, a person is supposed to consume 50 kilos of vegetables every year but their statistics show that a person only consumes about 30 kilos a year.

“Mao ni ang hinungdan nganong dako ta og kaon sa rice,” Paculba stressed.

He cited that from March 16 to September 15, which is considered as wet season, a total of 53,000 hectares of rice fields in the region will be planted with hybrid rice and home seeds in order to increase the local or domestic rice production, apart from the rice importation by the National Food Authority.

Paculba said the 16,000 bags of certified seeds of palay seedlings will be distributed in the region under the Rapid Seed Supply Financing Project (RaSSFiP).

The said project is under a $33.9M International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-funded projects as part of the country’s rice sufficiency goal by 2013. — (FREEMAN)