Samar On My Mind! Developing 3rd Largest Island As Major Rice Production Area

One of my biggest regrets and frustrations was failing to realize my vision of turning the country’s third largest island, Samar, into a major agricultural production area.
I was all set to implement a program called Samar Integrated Development Program (SIDP), a rice-production based Agricultural blueprint but my resignation in June 2019 following my rift with the Economic Managers over massive Rice Importation abruptly ended the dream.
In spite of that setback, I had not given up on my dream to explore the potentials of the island, with a total land area of 1.3-million hectares with an agricultural area of 526,000 hectares and numerous huge rivers, to become a major agricultural production area.
Call it a blessing but during a call on the new Agriculture Secretary, Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr., on Dec. 22, he shared with a group of rice industry stakeholders his vision of attaining a comfortable level of rice sufficiency in the country to protect it from the volatile prices and unpredictable supply availability in the world market.
This prompted me to share with him a program which I designed in 2018 following the series of typhoons which battered rice production areas in Northern Luzon and affected the country’s rice supply.
I called it the “Southern Swing Initiative” which aimed to identify areas in the southern regions of the country which could serve as buffer production areas for rice.
Samar was identified as one of the expansion areas for rice production, along with Leyte, Negros Island, Bohol, Panay, Palawan, Mindoro and Mindanao.
The DA Regional Offices were able to identify 300,000 hectares of new areas for rice to compensate for the losses suffered by Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Region because of typhoons.
While Samar has great potentials, it is also a very challenging area because of the primitive farming practices still embraced by farmers.
Farmers still use a primitive system in paddy preparation called “Payatak” where the farmer does not really plow the field but simply uses a herd of Carabaos to trample on the muddy paddies prior to planting.
The very poor field preparation results in a very low production of less than 2-metric tons per hectare.
I suggested to Sec. Laurel that a private group composed of rice experts be allowed to engage with rice farm owners in Samar under a Partnership Farming Strategy which I am now using in our Sorghum, Soybeans, Garlic and Onion Farming in Central Mindanao.
Under the Partnership Farming Scheme, the private group will undertake the development, planting, propagation, nurturing and harvesting of the rice fields.
All of the expenses will be quantified and at harvest, these expenses will be deducted from the gross proceeds of the rice harvested.
The farmer/landowner will receive a share of the proceeds based on the agreement forged with the Private Farm Management Group.
This system could be undertaken for a period of five years during which time, the local farmers would learn modern rice farming technology and the rice fields had been fully developed ready for subsequent planting.
For this scheme to succeed, all agencies under the DA involved in rice production must be engaged, like National Irrigation Administration, PhilRice, PhilMech and the National Food Authority to ensure a ready market for the production.
Most of all, local government units in the three provinces of the Island must provide support for this program.
Sec. Laurel appreciated the inputs and promised to task all concerned agencies to work on the Partnership Farming Scheme.
Soon, Samar Island, the Sleeping Agricultural Giant could transform into a Major Food Production Area of the country.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(These photos were taken in San Roque, Northern Samar, the supposed base of the Samar Integrated Development Program, with then Mayor Don Abalon.).