Region 2 to boost food production

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya: To maintain a continuous supply of agricultural products in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Department of Agriculture (DA) has reactivated the Regional Security Mobility Plan (RSMP) and intensified food production.

Narciso Edillo, DA Region 2 executive director, said it was Agriculture Secretary William Dar who issued a directive to reactivate the RSMP to sustain food supply in Metro Manila amid the escalating Covid-19 infections there.

“With the National Capital Region and the neighboring provinces of Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan now under Alert Level 3, it is important to ensure affordable food prices and the continued delivery of goods and services,” he said.

Edillo added that the government is working to increase local supply to also temper inflation in meat, especially pork.

“We have teams ready to oversee that transport groups will not be hampered in case the pandemic surges even more,” Edillo said in DZDA 105.3 “Director’s Hour” program.

He said the DA Region 2 will make sure that identification cards and passes will be issued to transport groups and that farmers can still go to the field so the cycle of food production will not be hindered.

“We have to do this because the bulk of consumers are in Metro Manila. We also have to do this for ourselves in the Cagayan Valley region,” Edillo said.

Cagayan Valley, which comprises the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya Quirino and Batanes, is one of the biggest suppliers of vegetables, poultry, fruits and root crops to Metro Manila, particularly from the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Trading in Bambang town in Nueva Vizcaya.

“While there is enough food supply, there is also a need to monitor the existing price of vegetables, meat, eggs and fish,” Edillo said, noting that there was a decline in food inflation which decreased from 4.1 percent in the previous months to 3.2 percent in December last year.