President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. assured Filipinos of sufficient rice supply despite the El Niño phenomenon.
Marcos said the ample supply of the Filipino food staple was due to the new farming techniques and improved irrigation system adopted by the government.
“If we are talking about rice, our supply is sufficient. People don’t need to worry. In fact, the areas with irrigation, our yield has increased our tons per hectare,” Marcos said.
However, the President acknowledged that some areas are struggling especially in provinces with low irrigation coverage, such as Occidental Mindoro.
To address this, he said the government is fast-tracking the installation of solar-powered irrigation pumps in upland, non-irrigated areas to boost production, and building dams and impounding ponds to help improve irrigation coverage in the agricultural province. – PNA
