Regional Agricultural Situation Report: April 2015

I. CROPS

 

  • In Abra, initial harvesting of palay in irrigated areas was observed in the province
  • In Apayao, harvesting of palay and corn was at its peak. The good weather helped in the maturing and ripening of grains.
  • In Benguet, most temperate vegetables decreased in production.
  • In Kalinga, harvesting of palay was still going on in the municipalities of Pinukpuk and Rizal while in Tabuk City, most were at maturing stage. On the other hand, reproductive stage was noted in the municipalities of Lubuagan, Pasil and Balbalan. Start of harvest for Indian mango while flowering stage for rambutan was observed for fruitcrops. Harvesting of coffee was still on-going in the municipalities of Pasil and Balbalan
  • In Mt. Province, land preparation and planting of palay was on-going in the municipalities of Sagada, Bontoc, and Sadanga.         

II. LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

  •  In Abra, normal trading of large animals was observed at Livestock “Oksyon” Market (LOM) Dolores. In LOM Bangued, lower price per liveweight of hog was observed due to more supply coming in from other provinces.
  • In Apayao, more households were encouraged to raise backyard hog and broiler due to good prices. Traders from other places were coming to the province to procure hogs and chicken thereby making good competition with local traders.
  • In Kabugao, Apayao, deworming, vaccination and treatment of cattle, carabaos, dogs and hogs were conducted in the different barangays of the municipality. The Provincial Veterinary Office provided the vaccines and medicines.
  • In Ifugao, a total of 17 head of hogs were shipped in from Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya at the Lamut Auction Market. Around 1,750 culled layers were also brought in from Nueva Vizcaya, Bulacan and Batangas.
  • In Kalinga, higher egg laying efficiency and hatchability ratio was noted due to warm weather condition.

III. FISHERIES

  • In Apayao, forced harvest on some fishponds were done due to the warm weather.
  • In Ifugao, production of tilapia in fishponds and cages was noted to be declining but no fishkill was reported by operators in the top producing municipalities of Lamut, Alfonso Lista and Aguinaldo.
  • In Kalinga, low water level was observed in most ponds during the month. Also, some communal bodies of water dried-up especially in the municipality of Rizal due to hot weather

IV. PRICES AND MARKET SITUATION

 

  • In Abra, sufficient supply of locally produced vegetables was observed.
  • In Apayao, buying price of palay and corn increased over the prevailing buying price last month brought about by the presence of outside traders. On the other hand, prices of other agricultural commodities displayed no considerable change over last month due to steady local supply.
  • In Benguet, deficit supply particularly of semi-temperate vegetables was observed which caused prices to escalate. These were carrots, radish, white potato, sweet bell pepper red, sweet bell pepper green, habitchuelas, lettuce, onion leeks, sweetpeas, and chayote. Other commodities, on the other hand, exhibited stable supply
  • In Ifugao, stable supply and price of vegetables, fruits, fishes, livestock and poultry was noted.
  • In Kalinga, farmgate price of hog went up due to high demand for pork.
  • In Mt. Province, normal supply of agricultural commodities was observed at Bontoc Public Market. However, fluctuating farmgate price of cabbage was observed during the month.

V.  SIGNIFICANT AGRICULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT/ PROGRAMS/ POLICIES/ GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS

  • In Abra, concreting and improvement of the Agtangao-Lubong and Cosili East farm-to market-road was on-going in the municipality of Bangued.
  • In Apayao, there was a newly constructed Rice Seed Bank at Badduat, Kabugao which would serve as a place to stock rice seeds as buffer stock for future use of farmers. PHILRICE provided the funding for the materials and its construction amounting to P 150,000.00
  • In Benguet, the DA RFU CAR, through the Highland Vegetable Crops Development Program (HVCDP), donated 2.3 million pesos worth of farm interventions to the Benguet Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative during their 4th General Assembly held at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center(BAPTC), Puguis, La Trinidad on April 7, 2015. The intervention consists of farm inputs worth 2.2 million pesos donated to the cooperative in the form of a project award while the inputs worth Php 284,350 were given away to those who registered during the assembly through raffle. Farm inputs and projects consists of 100 pieces plastic crates, 3 rolls of black nets, 6 sacks fertilizer, and 1 unit shredder. The projects awarded include 2 units greenhouse still to be installed, a 500 thousand worth of spring development project to be constructed plus 835 thousand peso worth of GAP trainings to be given in eight batches on April and May this year. The items given through raffle were 30 sets assorted seeds, 5 pieces plastic crates, 10 rolls black nets. Additional inputs were also turned over to BFMC members as raffle items: 4 heads carabao, 10 units power sprayers and 20 rolls HPDE (high-density polyethylene) pipe.
  • Still in Benguet, the Department of Agriculture Livestock Program (DA-LP) conducted its 1st Quarter Performance Review and Planning Conference last April 15-17 held at Eurotel, Baguio City. The activity was attended by all Regional Field Office (RFO) Coordinators, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), National Livestock Program (NLP), Office of the Undersecretary, DA-Central Planning and Monitoring Division held at on April 15-17, 2015. Among the discussions covered were the new discoveries on locally available forage for animals which are of high nutrient content. The plants are identified as Carallia borneensis Oliver and Carallia brachiata also known as bakao gubat or bakao bukid. Results of the study will be further improved for the production of compound packaged feeds with comparative analysis test in all regions.
  • In Kiangan, Ifugao, an on-going construction of irrigation project located at Sitio Lugo, O-ong passing through Sitio Munggayang, Cababuyan North that will cover around 25 Hectares when finished was underway.
  • In Kalinga, there was a distribution of modern OPV (white corn) from DA – RFU thru LGU as subsidy during the last week of April, 2015.
  • In Mt. Province, on-going widening and concreting of some portions of the national road in Barlig and Bauko municipalities

VI. SEMINARS/ TRAININGS/ WORKSHOPS/ MEETINGS

  • In Apayao, there was an ongoing techno-demo on Rice production at Lenneng, Kabugao with 36 farmer participants. The participants were trained on High Yielding Technology Adaptation (HYTA). The LGU of Kabugao provided the funding for the techno demo. Likewise, there was also an ongoing techno demo on vegetable production at Lucab and Poblacion barangays in Kabugao.
  • In Kalinga, around 45 farmer participants attended the training on the prevention and reduction of aflatoxin contamination relative to the implementation of GAP certification for the corn clustered municipalities of Kalinga, Apayao, and Ifugao from April 15 to 17 at Golden Berries Hotel in Tabuk City. The activity aimed to empower participants especially interested corn farmers on the benefits and importance of GAP.
  • In Mt. Province, a two-day Farmers’ Forum was jointly conducted in Bontoc town by the Agri-business Division of DA-RFO and OPAG with 110 participants coming from the ten municipalities. The focus was on organic farming particularly cacao, strawberry, and lettuce. Likewise, the Department of Agrarian Reform conducted three-day training on Internal Control System in the same town with 27 participants coming from eight cooperatives/organizations within the province.         

VII. WEATHER/ CLIMATIC CONDITION/ OUTLOOK

  • Sunny weather in the morning and cloudy skies in the afternoon with slight to heavy rainfall associated with thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening in most part of the region during the month. Such weather helped in the maturing and ripening of grain crops and were beneficial to farmers drying their crops.