By Hilda Austria/PNA
BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan — Some 30 onion farmers are the first batch of beneficiaries of the PHP487,000 funding from the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Regional Office 1 (Ilocos).
In an interview Monday, agricultural technician Zyra Orpiano said the funding will be of “great help” to the farmers whose farms were devastated by armyworms last year, which prompted the municipal government to declare a state of calamity.
Orpiano proposed the project called Rice-Based Oplan Harabas in a seminar last year for Agricultural Development and Extension Officers of the Community (AgRiDOC).
“At that time, we need to come up with a project to be proposed to the DA for funding. I thought of helping the onion industry since our onion farms in Bayambang have been devastated by armyworms for the three consecutive years,” she said.
The amount was turned-over to the onion farmers, who are members of Manambong Parte Farmers’ Association here, through the Municipal Agriculture Office last week.
Orpiano added the first phase of the project involves information dissemination to the onion farmers on how to reduce their use of pesticides.
“We have seen that the excessive use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizer was one of the causes of armyworm attacks in their farms hence, we wanted to address that into the use of biological insecticide and organic fertilizers,” she said.
The funding from DA is the second phase of the project, which aims to aid farmers with their farm needs.
“It is by roll-over fund scheme, meaning the 30 beneficiaries will pay the amount to their organization so that next year, another batch of farmers can utilize the fund and so on. We hope they could implement the project well,” Orpiano said.
The amount will be used to procure seeds and the bidding process is ongoing, she added.
