Regional Agricultural Situation Report: May 2015

I. CROPS

  • In Abra, harvesting of palay in irrigated areas was on-going particularly in the municipalities of Bangued and Tayum. Likewise, harvesting of corn (white) so with picking and trading of mangoes of all varieties and priming, sticking, curing and trading of tobacco were still in progress in the province.
  • In Apayao, harvesting was over and land preparation was already ongoing in some parts of the province. Most upland areas were already planted.
  • In Benguet, peak harvesting of white potato, carrots, and sweet bell pepper was observed in the municipalities of Buguias, Mankayan, Bakun, and Atok. Moreover, majority of temperate vegetables declined in production. These crops were cabbage, radish, habitchuelas, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, wongbok, sweetpeas, and cucumber.
  • In Kalinga, peak harvest of palay in the city of Tabuk, maturing stage in the municipalities of Pasil and Balbalan while seedbed and land preparation in the municipalities of Rizal and Pinukpuk were noted. Likewise, peak harvesting of carabao and indian mangoes. More production of green coconut was observed during the month.
  • In Mt. Province, on-going land preparation of upland palay and planting of yellow corn in Paracelis municipality.      

II.   LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

  • In Abra, trading day of large animals at LOM Dolores has changed from Sunday to Thursday as agreed upon by cattle and carabao raisers in the province. Meanwhile, more supply of hogs and goats was noted at LOM Bangued due to higher price of liveweight
  • In Apayao, the Agricultural Technologies(ATs) of Flora and Kabugao conducted deworming, disease treatment and multi-vitamins giving to various animals in their respective area. The vaccines and medicines were provided by DA CARFO.
  • In Benguet, traders of hog for slaughter from Baguio City and La Trinidad went down to lowland areas due to cheaper liveweight price.
  • In Ifugao, 12 head of cattle and 4 head of carabaos sourced from the municipalities of Aguinaldo, Mayoyao, Lamut and Alfonso Lista were shipped out to Urdaneta City. Also, 302 head of hogs were shipped in the province coming from the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya. About 11,000 head of culled layers were shipped in the province sourced from Bulacan, and Batangas.
  • In Mt. Province, the DA-RFO dispersed thru the provincial government one male and ten female cattles aging from 18 months to 2 years old to 11 raisers from Barangay Guinzadan Sur, Bauko and Tamboan, Besao.

III. FISHERIES

  • In Kalinga, clearing and repair of embankment was observed in most ponds. Meanwhile, less fishing activities was observed due to drying up of some fishing grounds.
  • In Mt. Province, An estimated 500 breeders with a size of 22 was released to one fishpond and hatchery operator in Bauko municipality by BFAR - CAR. Likewise, an estimated 25,000 pieces of fingerlings was dispersed to some fishpond operators in the same municipality by the provincial government. 

IV. PRICES AND MARKET SITUATION

  • In Abra, Through government intervention, price of rice remain stable although in some parts of the province, price of palay increased due to lesser stocks. Lean periods for lowland vegetables has started and is manifested in the price increments observed on these products. On the other hand, full season for mango was reached and mango carabao ripe is already priced at P20.00 to 30.00 a kilo. For meat and poultry products, price of which remained stable while marine products are limited and prices depend on the availability of supplies.
  • In Apayao, Prices of agricultural commodities remain steady as compared to prices last month. Trading for cereals decline from last month due to lesser entry of outside traders. Peak trading for hog was observed due to high consumers’ demand which is normally observed during harvest season. Trading for coconut matured boosted within the period covered with good price.
  • In Benguet, Supplies of agricultural commodities such as cabbage, radish, habitchuelas, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, wongbok, sweet peas baguio, sweetpeas native, and cucumber were seen to be deficit that caused the prices to escalate to P16.18, P13.52, P22.42, P22.89, P16.89, P25.37, P13.97, P99.38, P51.60, and P17.31 for the month of May 2015 from P10.00, P11.67, P16.13, P20.06, P15.86, P15.31, P9.71, P47.93, P35.00, and P12.06 pesos, respectively. While the supply of carrots, white potato, sweet bell pepper(green), and sweet bell pepper(red increased where prices were noted to pegged down from P16.31 to P16.15, P15.59 to P15.43, P52.87 to P25.98, and P64.64 to P42.68 pesos, respectively.
  • In Kalinga, Abundant supply for ripe carabao mango since it is peak harvest month for the mentioned commodity.         

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

  • In Abra, Concreting and improvement of Farm to Market Road in barangay San Juan East, Pilar, Abra is now completed by the Thunder Construction Corporation as contractor with an amount allocated and spent by LGU, Pilar, Abra of around Php 2,500,000.00 out of their share from RA 7171.
  • In Apayao, Two units of palay shed were constructed at the municipality of Flora particularly at the barangays of Malubibit Sur and Anninipan. The palay shed cost P150,000.00 each which was provided by DA CAR RFO. The beneficiaries’ counterpart for the project is the lot where the shed was constructed and the construction labor.
  • In Mt. Province, Ongoing widening and concreting of some portions of the national road in Barlig, Bauko and Paracelis municipalities.        

 VI. SEMINARS/ TRAININGS/ WORKSHOPS/ MEETINGS

  • In Abra, A monthly meeting of MCR was conducted at the PSA conference hall on April 8, 2015. This was attended by 19 LCRO personnel (MCRs and staff representing their MCR). This regular activity is being undertaken to discuss, updates, issues and concerns on civil registration. This is done every first Friday of the month in time with the submission of civil registry reports. IPSO Perdido also got feedback on the status of the 2015 Census of Population (POPCEN) convening of the Municipal Census Coordinating Board (MCCB) in their respective area of coverage. Snacks were served during the meeting.
  • In Apayao, Two techno- demo site had concluded in barangay Tamalunog and Allig in Flora.The Techno-demo in Tamalunog is for irrigated farming technology while in Allig is for rainfed farming technology.Both techno-demo has 0.50 hectares area.
  • The Caretaker of the satellite office attended “Kapehan” on May 4,2015. He also had coordination meeting re: PCCB convening with the office of the Governor on May 4,19 and 24,2015.         \

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.

Generally fair weather to hot sunny atmosphere with afternoon partly cloudy to cloudy skies and seldom thunderstorm and lightning and intermittent scattered rain shower occurred during the period. The PAGASA flashed over the television that typhoon Dodong passed by the province that even placed the area under typhoon storm signal # 1 last April 9, 2015. And still partly cloudy to cloudy skies with intermittent scattered rain shower prevailed during the rest of the days.

Warm weather prevailed over the period covered with some rains occurring mostly late afternoon. Such weather is beneficial to farmers who harvested their crops and to upland farmers preparing their area and eventually planting it.

The weekly occurrence of rainfall on the eastern part of the province was beneficial to corn and upland palay land preparation and growth of standing corn. Less frequency of occurrence however was observed on the western