Albay leads Bicol in agri performance

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) has named Albay as Bicol’s best performer in 2014 for its 93.7 percent rice sufficiency record.

The province was also given the Agri-Pinoy Rice Achievers Award (APRAA) for its rice program. It is Albay’s second outstanding award in a row.

The DA noted that the province’s rice production has increased by 50 percent the past seven years – from 147,900 metric tons in 2007 to 228,080 metric tons in 2014. 

Albay dominated the DA’s 2014 APRAA award rites attended by Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala at the Plaza Hotel in Naga City last  Feb. 10. The province  grabbed 18 of 35 titles, foremost of which was as Outstanding Province.

The town of  Polangui  was also elevated to the DA’s Hall of Fame for being a consistent “Outstanding Local Government Unit” the past three years.   

Alcala personally handed the awards to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda and other local government officials.

Salceda said Albay is targeting 100 percent  rice sufficiency by 2016.

Aside from rice, Albay is also known as the second biggest “camote” producer in the country.

Alcala recently inaugurated the DA’s P16-million Rice Processing Complex in Barangay Balinad, in Polangui, the largest of its kind in Bicol to further boost rice self sufficiency in the region. 

He also visited the country’s first Agri Ethno Ecotourism Village in Camalig, built with initial investment of P60 million. The village is designed to be the newest interactive tourists destination in the country, showcasing Albay’s one-town, one-product program.

Addressing the agri-fishery stakeholders and agriculture extension workers during the awards rites, Alcala lauded Salceda’s leadership for surpassing targets in both rice production and research programs in his province.

Records at the Albay Provincial Agricultural Services (PAS) showed the province produced  228,080 metric tons of rice  in 2014 compared to the previous year’s production of 223,912 metric tons.

The province’s yield has consistently increased from four metric tons to 4.3 per hectares. Production posted  a 1.33 percent hike during the wet season and 6.8 percent during the dry season of the same year.

Albay, Salceda said, is set to implement new projects to further boost its food production, funded partly from a P240 million loan from Land Bank of the Philippines.

The projects, he said, include the rehabilitation and improvement of the high value crops training center in Buang, Tabaco City with a P30 million budget, rehabilitation/improvement of livestock/poultry production and training center theme park in Malinao town costing P30 million, and rehabilitation/improvement of the Provincial Agri-Center in Tula-Tula, Ligao City, with P20-million budget.