Agriculture  

   Rice Production

    

   Based on the Department of Agriculture Region 5 (DA5) report, more than P80 million worth of potential rice yield by farmers in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Catanduanes and Sorsogon were lost due to the continuous rains and floods in the past several weeks of January 2009.  

 

   In Albay province, thousands of rats attacked some 700 hectares of rice lands and feasted on newly-planted rice crops, thus threatening the rice production target of the province.  Gov. Joey Salceda earmarked some P .5 million for the purchase of the much-needed rodenticides and other preventive farm inputs against other pests. Continuous rains and floods since December last year were blamed for the hiding places to look for food and alternative shelters.    

 

   Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda urged town and city executives to reactivate their  National Food Authority (NFA) rice outlets to cushion the impending hike in rice prices.   Commercial rice is currently sold at P31.00 to 35.00 a kilo while NFA rice is sold at P25.00 to P30 a kilo. The price of imported rice had increased this year according to the NFA, which left the government with no choice but to sell it at P30.00 per kilo, a P11.00 increase compared to the P18.55 price available in the market last year. The P18.00 per kilo NFA rice is made available to poor families with access cards issued by LGUs. (Ref: Bicol Mail, Feb. 12, 2009)

 

   Pili Production

 

   The DA5 presented to the RDC5 its Pili Regional Development Program, which requires over P211 million for implementation.  DA will showcase production and processing technology through model farms to be put up within the region’s Strategic Agricultural and Fisheries Development Zone (SAFDZ).The program identified some areas within the SAFDZ as the Bicol Pilinut Convergence Zone (BPCZ) composed of 25 towns and four cities covered by the provinces of Sorsogon, Albay and Camarines Sur. (PNA Feb 7 2009)  

 

   Abaca Production

 

   The Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE)-Bicol has called for a convergence of resources for a stronger intervention to save the abaca industry in the region,   DOLE has already released a grant amounting to P300,000 to LGU-Minalabac, Camarines Sur to fund its 60-hectares abaca plantation project. The plantation is said to culture, scientifically, the best varieties of abaca plant. (PNA,  Feb 14, 2009)

 

   Coco Industry

 

   Danilo Coronacion, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) disclosed through the local media that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has set aside a P1 billion fund to put the industry back on its feet.  

 

   Of the allotted fund, P271 million was earmarked for the coconut development program in Albay, the province heavily devastated by two super typhoons in 2006.

 

   Pineapple Industry

 

   An outsourcing proposal from Libby’s company gives hope to the pineapple industry of Camarines Norte with an annual initial demand of 5 million boxes of canned Formosa pineapple products, according to Ernesto R. Pardo, provincial director of the DTI.

 

   The upcoming opportunity for the province was spawned by the tripartite agreement signed in June 2008 between Secretary Peter Favila, representing the government; brothers Michael and Chris Derose for Libby’s; and a Filipino third-party corporation to provide the products. The signing, consummated in New York was witnessed by President Macapagal-Arroyo.

 

   Jatropha  

 

   Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Senator Miguel Zubiri and the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) for a joint jatropha plantation project in the province of Albay.  The biofuel project is in line with Senator Zubiri’s energy development program which pushes the Philippines into becoming an energy self sustaining country.

 

   Zubiri said a P2 million oil extraction facility would be established in Albay being the pilot area among the provinces in the country to implement the jatropha plantation program. 

 

   High Value Commercial Crops  (HVCC) Program

 

   The DA Region 5 reported on the 1st quarter the distribution of assorted vegetable seeds as follows:

 

• 66.02 kg under the Programang Gulayan sa Masa in Camarines Sur and Albay;

• 24 kg under the GMA HVCC Cross Commodity Program for Vegetable in Cam. Sur & Sorsogon;

• 136 kg to identified infiltrated barangays in Cam. Norte; and

• 15.4 kg to household beneficiaries.

   Farm-to-Market Roads

 

   As of March, P10 million was allocated by the DA for the construction of the farm-to-market-roads (FMR) in barangays Dalipay and San Antonio, Milaor, Camarines Sur  as part of "Ginintuang Masaganang Ani" program infrastructure support component. Also recently, DA allocated some P3 million for the Tinawagan-Libod FMR, named after the two barangays the road project traverses, in Tigaon town, also in this province. (PIA, March 12)

FISHERIES

   Based on the latest laboratory results of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), shellfish ban is still imposed on the following areas in Bicol:  Juag Lagoon in Matnog and Sorsogon Bay, Sorsogon; and coastal waters of Milagros in Masbate.  All types of shellfish and acetes sp. or alamang gathered from the above banned areas are not safe for human consumption.