Use of modern farming technology to ensure food sufficiency

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Governor Albert Raymond S. Garcia is determined to infuse the application of modern farming method and technological upgrading to achieve food sufficiency and agricultural expansion with the growing population and influx of factory workers in the province.

Michael Sidon, an agricultural technologist at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) here said the farm mechanization and development program of Governor Garcia is geared toward the unabated progress in the eco-industrial status of the province as one of the fastest growing commercial business and industrial centers in Central Luzon.

He explained the OPA has initiated farming technology trainings, distribution of certified seeds, both palay and vegetable, facilitate acquisition of farm machineries and postharvest facilities and other equally valuable know-how essential agricultural requirements to ensure sustainable productivity.

Sidon is confident the transition of agricultural productive system from subsistence to modern methods stimulates economic growth, creates employment opportunities and will ensure a stable supply of basic commodities, sufficient to feed the demand of increasing number of residents and industrial workers in the various special economic zones in the locality.

Last year, Bataan registered 100 percent rice sufficiency with production level of 137,000 metric tons enough to provide food consumption requirements of the estimated 700,000 residents of 83,255 metric tons per year.