DA gives agri inputs to Bicol rice farmers amid La Niña threat

Philippine News Agency
2024.07.22

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has started distributing different agricultural interventions to rice farmers in the Bicol Region for the wet cropping season to ensure enough rice supply ahead of the forecasted La Niña.

In an interview on Monday, DA-Bicol information office chief Lovella Guarin said they provided more than 60,000 bags of hybrid rice, PHP3,400 worth of fertilizer discount per hectare, financial assistance worth PHP5,000 each for farmers cultivating two hectares and below, and biofertilizers to clustered associations.

The DA will also roll out biofertilizers to clustered associations to lessen the cost of production, specifically fertilizer, and to enhance soil health and fertility.

"Biofertilizers are substances containing a variety of microbes having the capacity to enhance plant nutrient uptake by colonizing the rhizosphere and making the nutrients easily accessible to plants' root hairs. This is a better alternative to synthetic fertilizers," Guarin said.

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