Workers of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources worked through the holidays to ensure the immediate delivery of buffer rice and corn seeds to typhoon-ravaged areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who has been overseeing the operations, reported that in the absence of commercial vessels to ferry the seeds from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao, the research ship of BFAR, M/V DYCA DA-BFAR, was converted into a cargo ship so the seeds could be delivered quickly to allow the farmers to be able to replant.
Thousands of hectares of farm lands planted to rice and corn in the Visayas and Mindanao regions were destroyed by two typhoons, Urduja and Vinta, which came in close heels of each other.
President Rody Duterte, following a visit to the areas last week, ordered the immediate delivery of assistance to the areas.
The Department of Agriculture was instructed to facilitate the immediate delivery of seeds and farm inputs so the farmers whose crops were destroyed could replant immediately and catch up with the dry planting season.
Most of the crops destroyed by the typhoons were just planted and with the fast delivery of seeds and farm inputs, the farmers could immediately replant and catch up with the planting calendar.
Any delay would prevent them from planting again and recover from their losses.
While the DA has buffer stocks of seeds in each region, the stocks in the affected regions were not enough to cover the needs of the farmers.
Seeds from Luzon Regional Offices have to be brought to the areas to fill up the shortage but the effort was snagged by the holidays when commercial vessels could not be engaged to ferry the items to Visayas and Luzon.
Fisheries Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona volunteered the use of the BFAR research vessel but the problem of finding workers to load the seeds proved to be another challenge.
The two Undersecretaries, Romulo-Puyat and Gongona, with the help of Asst. Secretary Andrew Villacorta and Director Roy Abaya of Region 3, engaged DA-BFAR workers to help in the loading of the seeds at Subic Port.
The seeds and farm inputs are expected to arrive in the Port of Dapitan, its last drop off point, on Jan. 2.
On Jan. 4 and 5, I will visit the typhoon-stricken areas of Northern Mindanao to ensure that all problems faced by the farmers are covered.
Publicly, I have to commend the DA officials and workers who worked through the holidays to ensure the immediate delivery of assistance to the farmers in the typhoon-ravaged areas of the country.
You have shown to the people the new brand of public service under the leadership of the indefatigable President, Rody Duterte.
(Photos of the seeds being loaded into M/V DA-BFAR submitted by DA Region 3 and BFAR.)
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