Thirteen rice clusters have been formed in Negros Occidental to ensure the efficient implementation of the government rice program for farmers in the province.

Agriculturist II Nilda Juguan of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist said the farmers are now grouped into clusters based on the rice areas to which they belong, either irrigated, rain-fed or hybrid. Each cluster is not less than 50 hectares of contiguous rice areas and located within five kilometer radius in a city or municipality.

"We extend to them technical assistance and supervision. We can monitor the results (of the intervention) better if the farmer are clustered by areas," Juguan told the DAILY STAR yesterday.

She said the program has a Farmers Field School component and the farmers are also provided with organic fertilizer and granted a discount in purchasing certified seeds.

The target production for each cluster is 4.5 metric tons per hectare for rain-fed; 5.5 metric tons, for irrigated; and 6.5 metric hectares, for hybrid.

Juguan said although there some clusters that fell short of their target output, the program implementation was generally successful during the wet season.

She said the OPA technicians are focusing their interventions mostly on non-irrigated or rain-fed areas, totaling 19,498 hectares in Negros Occidental.

The Department of Agriculture 6, which implements the GMA rice program Western Visayas, said in its report that rice cluster areas are prioritized for interventions such as seeds, inputs, technical know-how, irrigation, mechanization, post-production and market assistance.

The DA added that the cluster approach enables easier execution, monitoring and process of documentation of the program that aims a sustainable self-sufficient rice economy for this year, with a projected production of 16.67 million tons of palay. Production cost is also expected to drop by 10 percent and yield to increase by 20 percent.*NLG

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