"Under the leadership of Secretary Dar, the Agriculture Department has achieved the feat of record palay production."
"Under the leadership of Secretary Dar, the Agriculture Department has achieved the feat of record palay production."
It’s so disappointing that in these not-so-ideal times, we are besieged by not-so-ideal performances by government officials we expected to deliver no less-than-ideal services.
We were treated to a mañanita in the midst of the strictest community quarantine. We have to deal with an incompetent health official whose dilly-dallying with the imposition of a travel ban and the procurement of test kits and PPEs could have contributed to surge of COVID cases. After this, he had to sit on the procurement of the anti-COVID vaccines, leaving us out in the hierarchy of those waiting in line to acquire the much sought-after antidote. Not content with his deplorable performance all throughout his pandemic, this official, even at the last minute, is insisting on delaying a travel ban to and from the UK even as the President had already imposed one.
In spite of all these, a bright spot looms as we look forward to another year. Before we formally bid adieu to the annus horribilis that was 2020, the Philippine Statistical Authority said the country had achieved an all-time high record in palay production, producing 19.4 million metric tons, exceeding last year’s output of 18.81 million tons and surpassing the previous record set in 2017 of 19.27 million tons.
This feat was achieved under the watch of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. Surprisingly, Dar said the country’s production this year could have been even higher were it not for the typhoons that hit his year, especially Ulysses last month, preceded by Pepito, Quinto, and Rolly.
Despite the devastating typhoons, we achieved this in the middle of the worst pandemic in the last 100 years.
In fact, there were problems due to the pandemic which, starting in March, brought about a “logistical nightmare” in the shutdowns of both government offices and private businesses and offices. Despite this unprecedented factor, Dar was able to successfully steer the agriculture sector to carry on and come up with record production this year.
He even allocated a multi-billion peso fund to support the farmers, either through grants or loans who were hit hard during the initial imposition of the community quarantine when farm produce could be hardly transported to markets.
Farmers were extended loans ranging from P15,000 to P25,000 each, payable in five years with zero interest.
According to Dar, the biggest contributors to local rice production is Central Luzon, followed by Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Region.
In the Visayas, Iloilo is the top producer of rice while the regions of Northern Mindanao and Soccksargen are the biggest contributors to the country's rice production in Mindanao.
Looking forward to next year, Dar says highland vegetables and other crops produced in the Cordillera Administrative Region will no longer be dumped and wasted with the processing and packaging facility of the Department of Agriculture set to operate in June 2021.
“The facility will be completed and ready to operate in six months,” says Dar.
With the facility, vegetables produced in Benguet, Mountain Province, and Ifugao will be processed and packaged before being brought for trading locally or transported to other markets like in Metro Manila.
At least, despite the many negative things we faced the past 11 months, we have something and someone to thank for this year – the Department of Agriculture under the leadership of Secretary William Dar.
