Antique expects additional palay buffer stock for El Niño

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique (PNA) – The Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA) is expecting an additional 1,672 bags of palay seeds as its buffer stock from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Office.

Senior Agriculturist Ramona dela Vega of OPA, in an interview Friday, said the province of Antique has a total allocation of 3,800 bags of palay seeds that would be distributed to farmers who would be affected by the onset of the long dry spell now affecting some farmlands here.

“The 3,800 bags allocated for the province is still supposedly in the 2018 DA allocation for the province,” she said.

She said the initial 1,900 bags of seeds were only delivered by the supplier last January 28.

“The initial allocation delivered are in the warehouse in Padang in Patnongon town,” she said.

She said the buffer stock will be distributed to farmers who would request through their respective mu-

nicipal agriculturists.

“The palay seeds will be given to farmers who would need planting material,” she said.

She added that the OPA expects the DA supplier, which she did not name, to be able to complete the delivery soon so that farmers can immediately avail of the planting seeds.

A bag of seeds is given to a farmer per hectare of farmland that he tills.

Meanwhile, Dela Vega said that they are still waiting for the Municipal Agriculture Officers to submit reports on the number of hectares of rice lands that are being affected by the El Niño.

“I still do not have the Municipal Agriculture Officers report on the affected areas,” she said.