DA, MinDA, LGU! MinDA Targets Tribal Areas For Highland Rice Farming

The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has identified Upland Rice Farming Program in the vast Tribal Areas of Mindanao as one of its banner programs in addressing Rural Poverty and ensuring Food Security in Mindanao.
New MinDA Chairman, Sec. Leo Tereso Magno, said MinDA will collaborate with the Department of Agriculture and the Local Government Units where the Tribal Areas are located in implementing the project.
Upland Rice Farming is not new to the Tribal Communities in Mindanao where every year, they plant indigenous rice varieties known as “Panuig,” usually starts from January to March.
In the Upland Rice Farming Program proposed by MinDA, modern hybrid rice varieties which could be planted in Upland Areas and un-irrigated areas will be introduced along with modern rice farming technology.
Mindanao’s Ancestral Domain Areas are estimated to be over 1-million hectares mainly medium to high-elevation and Upland Rice Farming could cover 500,000 hectares over the next 4 years.
With an estimated average yield of only 2-metric tons, the Upland Rice Farming Program could produce 1-million metric tons of palay or 600,000-metric tons of milled rice.
Under this engagement, the three agencies will have the following tasks:
1. MinDA will serve as the Project Coordinator and Implementor which would identify upland communities in Mindanao with very high poverty and malnutrition incidence;
2. The LGUs, with the help of MinDA, will conduct mapping and social preparations for the recipient communities;
3. DA will provide the funds for seeds, farm inputs, solar dryers in the communities and mini-rice mills.
With an average production of 2-metric tons per hectare, the 500,00-hectares of Tribal Upland Rice Farms could produce at least 1-million metric tons of palay or 620,000 metric tons of milled rice.
Sec. Magno said this program will free tribal communities from dependence3 on imported rice while contributing to the production of rice in the country.
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