Kalinga execs: Ample rice supply amid quarantine

By Jesse Maguiya  

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Officials of the local governments here and national line agencies in the province have assured the residents that there is sufficient supply of rice even after the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

During the meeting of the provincial inter-agency task force for emerging diseases on Wednesday, provincial agriculturist Domingo Bakilan said the province is 283 percent rice sufficient in 2019, which is highly the same at the moment.

The meeting was attended by the Provincial, City and Municipal agriculture officials, National Food Authority (NFA), National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and millers from palay buying stations in the province.

Bakilan said that last year, Kalinga produced 158,285 metric tons of combined commercial and heirloom rice. Bulk of the commercial varieties were produced in this component city.

Kalinga observes either twice or thrice cropping seasons.

Bakilan said that the province is expecting to harvest around 80,000 metric tons during the first semester of 2020 until June, adding the province has 221,000 residents with each person consuming 166 kilograms of rice per year or an average total consumption of 37,000 tons.

He said aside from local consumption, there are also some rice varieties produced in Isabela which are brought in to the province.

Governor Ferdinand Tubban appealed to local rice growers and traders to save and set aside rice stocks for the future, especially with the Luzon-wide ECQ amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“To all traders, see that you stock up and we have a continuous supply especially at this time of the pandemic. I hope that your heart goes to our townmates, that you ask yourselves, 'do my townmates have food to eat'. That' s what we ask from the traders," Tubban said in the Ilokano dialect.

             NFA Kalinga general manager Fe Salim also that there are 67, 000 sacks of palay stocks at their warehouses in Bulanao, Tabuk and in Rizal town-- aside from the 516 bags of milled rice.

She said that 1,000 bags of rice are reserved for the province.

At the same meeting, city agriculturist Julibert Aquino said that more or less 30 percent of the rice lands have been planted and more than 30 percent of areas are undergoing land preparation.

The city has a total of 10, 417 hectares of irrigated farms.

Nasser Rey Juan of the Office of the Agricultural Services in Rizal town also reported that as of Wednesday, there is a total of 1, 886 hectares of harvestable area in the municipality and an estimate of 811 hectares almost ready for harvest.

He assured that farmers in Rizal will again begin planting in April.

Kalinga is considered as the rice granary of the Cordillera Administrative Region, producing high-quality commercial rice varieties and native rice planted the traditional way on mountains. (PNA)