IMUS CITY, Cavite – Magdalena, Laguna bagged the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) 2017 Rice Achievers Awards (RAA) on Thursday, an annual event to recognize the country’s outstanding rice producers.
Held at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City on Thursday, the Rice Achievers Awards is also one of DA’s ways to motivate and show appreciation for institutions, groups, and individuals for their contributions in its food sufficiency thrust.
DA Focal Person for Region IV-A’s Rice Program Enrique Layola said that Magdalena was proclaimed RAA winner due to its high rice production in the municipality, “inspite their small land area, they still made it productive.”
A 4th class municipality, Magdalena town has a land area of 3,708 hectares and a total of 24 villages.
The RAA also put great weight on the program or services made by the local government unit (LGU) to assist their respective rice farmers in their production like the low credit scheme and the established ‘palay’ trading system, among others.
Municipal Agriculturist Cecelia Sy, together with her staff, received the award.
With the award comes a check amounting to PHP1 million to be used for Magdalena’s rice production enhancement projects.
Senator Cynthia Villar and DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol graced Thursday’s event, together with officials from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), other DA bureaus and attached agencies, including DA Regional Field Office (Calabarzon) officials, namely Regional Technical Director for Research and Regulations Elmer Perry, Rice Program Report Officer Maricris Ite, and Layola.
Laguna’s Sta. Masi Irrigators Association of Sta. Maria, Laguna and the province as a whole also received special recognition as finalists under Irrigators’ Association Category and provincial category, respectively. ( Gladys Pino/PNA)
