By Leonardo V. Micua
DAGUPAN CITY, June 8 (PNA) — The economic prospects in Region 1 remain bright for 2015 with some P2.6 billion more allotted by President Benigno Aquino III for irrigation.
Region 1 is populated by some 4.7 million people of Ilocano and Pangasinan ancestry or a mixture of both, plus those from other ethnic groups,
Funded along with several major infrastructure projects in the country is the Agno River Irrigation System Extension Project (ARISEP) which was packaged by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) following the termination of the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project (ARIIP).
When completed, this will irrigate additional 39,774 hectares of land in the fertile lowlands of Pangasinan, increasing its capacity to deliver more food not only to the entire Region 1 but also to the whole country.
The province, populated by some 2.7 million, which is almost 50 percent of the entire Region 1 population, is not only the leading rice producer in the region but also ranks as the fifth biggest rice producer in the whole country, with a big chance to become number one if ARISEP is completed.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the ARISEP supports the Food Staples Sufficiency Program of the government by providing year-round irrigation water to agricultural areas.
This project will undoubtedly assure that Region 1, led by Pangasinan will remain the food basket of the country supplying rice, corn, vegetables particularly tomatoes, eggplants, onion and garlic, milkfish, poultry, hogs and such ruminants as cows, goats and sheep to Metro Manila and the whole country.
The drought experienced by the whole country starting during the second quarter of 2015 and seemed to have brought extended summer in some parts of the country had serious impact on the region’s agriculture which is dependent on water that is available in the farms.
However, Region 1 farmers seemed to have outwitted and conquered the impact of El Niño by planting crops that needed little water to grow like vegetables, cassava, peanuts and others, said Gloria Barong, information officer of the Department of Agriculture field office in Region 1.
In this drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, the province of Pangasinan seemed blessed as it was not included among provinces placed in the watch list where water has become so scanty for farming to take place.
On top of that, there was an assurance from the San Roque Power Corporation (SRP) that there is enough water from the San Roque Multi-purpose Dam for irrigation purposes, assuring farmers that there was really no reason to panic and to fight for water.
Although it is now raining in the region almost every other day but noticeably in just short duration, no farmer is bold enough to start planting rice, noted Eduardo Gonzales, regional technical director of DA Region 1 field office.
Exception to this are some lowland areas in Rosales and San Manuel where undulating fields of greens have emerged from the fields on both sides of the newly built Tarlac Pangasinan La Union Expressway (TPLEx) despite the searing heat of summer, a strong evidence that water for agriculture is still sufficient in that area, said Gonzales.
Gonzales, speaking during the 9th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Award Roadshow in Dagupan City, maintains that of the four provinces in Region 1, Pangasinan has the biggest agriculture potentials.
It’s not only because of Pangasinan’s large area and big population, but also because of the willingness of the local government to work with DA to improve the lot of farmers.
It is with Pangasinan which DA forged an agreement some four years ago to pioneer an accelerated rice seed production program where farmer cooperators are given hybrid seeds to plant in their farms and for the produce to be sold to other farmers at half of the price with the provincial government taking care of the other half.
DA and Pangasinan also tied up in the putting up of a Rice Processing Plant in Sta. Barbara town through a grant of P300 million extended by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) that could ensure about 98 percent rice recovery as compared to ordinary rice mills in rural villages which can give only 45 to 50 percent rice recovery.
The objective, said Gonzales, is to produce 50-kilo bags of rice labelled “Pangasinan” which never happened in the past.
In August last year, DA put up a trading post in Urdaneta,City, among several it built in the whole country where some 300 to 500 tons of vegetables are now being traded per week.
The DA said it will soon modernize trading in the area with the addition of a bidding center and a processing center and all the vegetables that will come out. ,
As soon as it is managed by the vegetable farmers themselves, the center will be linked to Clark and Subic to supply the daily food needs of their workers, said Gonzales, citing that Hanjin, a Korean firm building ships at Subic, has to date some 24,000 workers.
“With this center, we well try to eliminate channels of distribution which sometimes involve from eight to 10 persons who corner most of the profits in vegetables, leaving the farmer just a little margin of profit, he said.
On milkfish, Pangasinan still maintains the lead as the biggest producer in the entire country, edging Iloilo, Sarangani, Batangas, Laguna and even Bulacan.
This year, a new interesting twist developed when Dagupan City branded its own milkfish with the help of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Trade and Industry.
As a result, every milkfish that goes out of the Dagupan Fish Market carries the tag clipped near the gills of the fish that reads “Dagupan Certified Product”. (PNA)