SAMAL, Bataan — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday began distributing free palay seeds to farmers in this province to help in resolving the lack of rice supply.
Samal municipal agriculturist Nora Medina said Mayor Gene dela Fuente has requested from the Agriculture department some 297 sacks of palay seeds that already arrived with 150 more bags soon coming.
The program will benefit 447 farmers in this town.
“This is an assistance from the national government through DA for the farmers so that they could recover due to last harvest’s low yields and to address the lack of rice supply,” Medina said.
Farmers Carlos Pena of Barangay Ibaba and Melencio Villegas of Barangay Santa Lucia and other recipients were happy with the free seeds.
“This is a big help for farmers like us so that we could recover from losses,” Pena said.
“This is nice. Hopefully, this would be done yearly,” Villegas said.
Medina said the free palay seeds will be used for the third planting season that starts on March.
The agriculturist said not all farmers from the town will be benefitted because the free palay seed distribution is ongoing in various parts of the country.
There are 881 farmers in Samal tilling 1,098 hectares of rice lands. Average yield is 5.2 metric tons or 120 cavans of palay per hectare, Medina said. (PNA)
