Stronger ties forged between DA and Capitol
By Ferliza C. Contratista
CEBU CITY, May 1 (PIA7) — Cebu is not far from being rice sufficient this time with the Cebu Provincial Capitol behind.
This was the statement of Angel Enriquez, Department of Agriculture 7 Officer in Charge Regional Director, in the recent launching of the International Rice Year in Cebu.
In her speech, Enriquez thanked the Provincial Government including the mayors of the local government units for a good performance in rice production which eventually contributed to Central Visayas’ ranking among the Top 5 Rice Producing Regions in the country.
Enriquez said the Region had an increase of 1.32 percent growth in rice production from 2011 to 2012 from the 2,470 rice lands in the four provinces in the region.
Covering the same year, Cebu produced an average of 3.21 MT of palay per hectare.
There are 5,280 rice producing areas in the province.
Cebu, for now, is 2.65 percent sufficient.
“I know we can do more specially now that we had renewed our ties, coordination with Cebu Province. I just hope that soon they can appropriate enough budget for agriculture,” Enriquez said.
Cebu Acting Governor Agnes Magpale, for her part, said she was amazed with the performance of rice farmers in the province.
“I never thought that Cebu was a rice-producing province and so now I stand corrected. As a legislator, I do hope and I will work hard for the appropriation of a bigger budget for agriculture because this is actually good news,” Magpale said.
Magpale said the International Year of Rice advocacy is timely as it does not only promote optimization but also in the control or minimizing consumption.
She recalled former DA Secretary and then Congressman Sonny Escudero who told her and her husband that if only Filipinos will lessen two to three tablespoons their consumption of rice, it will already be a big help to attaining rice sufficiency.
“And now I see the same figures, that Filipinos waste 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooked rice daily, so my pledge is to maintain just 3 cups of rice daily,” Magpale said.
In a presentation made by Tomasita Cadungog, regional technical director for Operations in DA-7, it was learned that rice losses also take up a large part in the rice sufficiency problem.
Rice losses on the table means the wastage of an average of 2 to 3 table spoons of cooked rice daily.
Cadungog said Filipinos usually consume four and a half cups of rice instead of the recommended three cups of rice.
In terms of post harvest wastage, around 15 to 20 percent of the total production is lost. Considering that there are 16,935,000 kilograms of palay produced, around 3,300,000 kilos are lost during post harvest.
But because of the application of post harvest technologies, DA had managed to reduce losses by 5 percent or by 846,750 kilos of palay or rice equivalent to 550,387.5 kilos.
Considering that an average Cebuano consumes 83.98 kilos annually, there are about 6,000 more Cebuanos that can be fed with the savings.
In the said event, the different local government units signed their pledge in achieving rice sufficiency as well as hoist their respective banners for support.
The International Year of Rice logo was also unveiled and it will be displayed at the Cebu Provincial Capitol Social Hall. (rmn/FCC/PIA7)
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