The Department of Agriculture (DA) has distributed 51,630 bags of hybrid and inbred seeds for Iloilo rice farmers this first cropping season.

The seeds, to cover 51,630 hectares, were released directly to the municipalities for easy access to their recipients.

“Only those listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture are qualified to avail of seeds,” Ildefonso Toledo, head of the Provincial Agriculture Office, said in an interview on Friday.

Of the total allocation, 31,670 will be for the hybrid cluster and 19,960 for the inbred cluster. They came with fertilizer vouchers, ameliorant, and bio-fertilizer.

Toledos said in addition to the support from the DA, the provincial government has a program for hybrid and inbred rice production, fertilization, and the Jalaur premium rice production project.

It is expected that 50 percent of the inputs will be released this July in time for the first cropping.

“We also train our farmers on seed production so they can produce their seeds. They will be provided with registered seeds to grow on their farms. Hopefully, the inbred registered seeds can produce certified seeds that they can grow immediately in their farms,” he said.

The province has 144,000 hectares of rice plantations – 42,000 hectares are irrigated and the rest are rain-fed.

Toledo said the province achieved its target production of 1 million metric tons last year for an average yield of 3.75 metric tons per hectare.

“With our program on rice, where we scaled up through our intervention under the Province-Led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES), we are targeting 5.5 metric tons to 6 metric tons per hectare,” he said. (PNA)