DINGRAS, Ilocos Norte, May 28 (PIA) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) continues to assist farm workers in Ilocos Norte as they successfully marketed their mungbean harvest worth Php3.8 million.
Three farmers' associations in the municipality of Dingras were able to market their 61 tons of mungbean or munggo worth Php3.8 million to Nutridense Food Manufacturing Corporation through DA’s market-matching program.
These organizations are CSDCS Farmers Association, Lanas Timpuyog Farmer Association, and the United Barong Kalawaan Farmers Association who were assisted by DA in the Ilocos.
The production of mungbean by the farmer-partners of the agriculture agency is part of the research and development project on Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) in collaboration with the Agribusiness Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD).
They also helped in the marketing of the mungbean production on a three-year period covered by a Memorandum of Agreement between the Nutridense and the farmers’ groups involved in the project.
Moreover, the DA provided the certified mungbean seeds and other production support, technical assistance, and marketing strategies to around 100 mungbean farmers of Brgy. Barong and Brgy. Lanas in the said municipality.
The training for farmers enabled farmers to produce their own certified planting materials to sustain the production of quality and high yielding mungbean varieties in the area.
“It is important to provide direct market access for the farmers’ produce to encourage more farmers to adopt DA’s production technologies on mungbean for increased yield and income,” said Mark Ariel Agresor, project leader.
For the beneficiaries of the said project, Ferdinand Obrero, the secretary of the CSDCS Farmers Association, thanked DA, provincial government of Ilocos Norte, and the local government of Dingras, for the opportunity to increase their income especially in the assurance of market for their mungbean which has been a major concern of the farmers in the past.
“Buong puso kaming nagpapasalamat sa buong pamunuan ng DA, sa provincial at municipal government ng Dingras at probinsiya ng Ilocos Norte, sa patuloy na paggabay sa amin sa aming pagtatanim ng munggo. Tunay na malaking tulong sa amin na madagdagan ang aming kita na lubos na kailangan ng mga kagaya naming maliliit na mga magsasaka lalong lalo na ngayong panahon ng pandemya,” said Obrero.
The farmers' groups were able to sell their harvest at Php61.00 per kilo of the “kintab” (classifcaition) mungbean and Php64.00 per kilo of their “labo” mungbean, which is about Php9.00 higher than the Php53.00 per kilo offered by walk-in traders.
Meanwhile, during the Network Briefing News hosted by Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar on May 26, San Jose, Dinagat Islands Mayor Yngwie Hero Ecleo gave updates on the agriculture situation in the said town amid the pandemic brought by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We are not very strong in agriculture because we only have a few farm lands but our farmers have a high production rate. Majority of our people’s livelihood here, aside from fishing and hardware businesses, were affected by the lockdown because residents of Dinagat were required to have an RT-PCR negative test result,” the local chief executive said.
This year, Mayor Ecleo said they are planning to continue distributing hygiene kits, sanitary kits, face shields, and face masks to the youth and residents of the communities as COVID-19 threat is still around.
The Network Briefing News is a daily news program being broadcast in the official pages of PCOO and its attached agencies, from Mondays to Fridays, 9:00-10:00 a.m. (JCR/AMB/MJTAB PIA Ilocos Norte)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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