TACLOBAN CITY - The Department of Agriculture Regional and Fisheries Information Division Chief Virginia Macanda said "an assistance to the farmers in the form of government subsidy for the price of palay seeds is what we offer for the May to October cropping season."
According to her, the GMA rice Program is focused in giving assistance to the different provinces by way of clustering approach. This covers the planting target of 7, 000 hectares for a hybrid and 48, 000 hectares for the certified inbred seeds.
"The farmers who plant the certified inbred in a rainfed lowland can avail this assistance from the government. However, those irrigated rice fields can have a direct purchase of four packets of Bio-N without any subsidy," she said.
Meanwhile, a certified inbred seed is recommended in rainfed lowland areas, while the office recommends hybrid rice in the areas that have good irrigation.
"With a 50 percent subsidy that is given by the government, a 40 kilo seeds and four packets of Bio-N only costs P440.00, meaning, in every P60.00 pack of Bio-N, each sack will only costs P200.00," she added.
However, farmers who use any kind of hybrid seeds can avail a P50.00 per kilo government subsidy. In addition, in every 20 kilo of seeds per hectare, they can lessen an amount of P1, 000.00 from its purchase. Additional two packets of Bio-N and two sacks of organic fertilizers are also to be given.
Along this line, DA 8 also encourages farmers to use supplement nitrogen for the rice field which is Bio-N.
Bio-N fills 30-50 percent nitrogen in a rice seed, so, using two sacks of Urea, there will only be one sack of fertilizer, which will be used instead.
