LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—The provincial government led by Gov. Amado I. Espino III, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, on Tuesday distributed some 2,000 bags of certified palay seeds and 4,000 bags of fertilizer to farmer beneficiaries in support of the Agro-Industrial Enterprise Program at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center.
The program, which was conceptualized by the governor, aims to increase the yield of the farmer beneficiaries tilling an area of 2,000 hectares in the second district, and to deliver the appropriate package of technology to these farmers to become more productive partners towards economic development.
Stressing the importance of the program, Gov. Espino said the provincial government is doing its best to help and support the needs of the marginalized farmers. As such, he urged the farmers to take care of themselves and their crops even if they get discouraged when calamities happen.
Joining Espino in the distribution of the farm inputs were Vice Gov. Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr. and Second District Board Member Nestor “Nikki Boy” D. Reyes.
During the distribution, Officer-in-Charge Provincial Agriculturist Dalisay A. Moya welcomed the farmers from the eight municipalities—Aguilar, Basista, Binmaley, Bugallon, Labrador, Lingayen, Mangatarem, Urbiztondo—of District II in Pangasinan.
Also on the same day, the governor turned over four tractors and 177 water pumps to organized farmer’s associations from the six congressional districts of the province at the Provincial Agriculture Office in Tebag, Sta. Barbara.
The provincial government had availed of the World Bank’s Philippine Rural Development Project fund to push the local farmers towards entrepreneurship.
Last February, a P1-million farm tractor equipped with a rotavator, leveler and trailer was turned over to a multipurpose cooperative based in Mapandan town.
Initially, the provincial government included 24 cooperatives in its list as recipients of the PRDP’s small livelihood package, which is projected to increase agricultural income by 30 percent, with individual farmers sharing five percent more profit in marketed products.
Espino’s AIE program got a shot in the arm from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan after the legislative body approved a resolution that authorized the governor to enter into an agreement with the farmer-beneficiaries of a massive rehabilitation project on irrigation systems.