CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan – The Provincial Government of Bulacan headed by Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado and the Philippine Coconut Authority led by Administrator Glenn B. Santos signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Coconut Seedling Dispersal Project to give farmers a new source of income.
Alvarado welcomed the project, saying that the PCA aims to give coconut seedlings to prospective farmers of District 3 which includes the municipalities of Doña Remedios Trinidad, Norzagaray, San Ildefonso, San Miguel and San Rafael.
Alvarado is thankful for the additional opportunities being given to Bulakenyos and encouraged the farmers to use the chance wisely to increase their production and income for the betterment of their lives.
The said memorandum took effect on June 27, 2017 while the target month of the allocation of seedlings is on July with a total of 200 farmers from the municipalities of District 3 that includes 50 farmers from San Ildefonso, 35 from San Rafael, 50 from San Miguel, 30 from DRT and 35 from Norzagaray.
“Each farmer will receive 50 seedlings that is good for a half hectare wherein 10 by 10 meters will be the planting distance,” Raymart Santiago, focal person from the PCA, said.
“Since the administrator of PCA is from Bulacan, naisip n’ya na bakit hindi bigyan ang province, meron pa rin naman tayong agricultural areas na suitable for coconut production,” said Agnes delos Santos, supervising agriculturist from the Provincial Agriculture Office.
She added that Santos sees that Bulacan is a host to a wide array of commodities.
Based on the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in 2015, Bulacan ranks 4th in Region 3 in terms of having the highest number of planted coconut trees with 22, 723. In terms of production, Bulacan placed 5th in Region 3 producing 608 metric tons of coconut. –Emil G. Gamos