Agriculture

By Rose de la Cruz Sugar producers under the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. said there was no need to import sugar this year as inventories are sufficient to last until the start of milling season late this year. This after the Department of Agriculture bared last week that it is allowing 200,000 metric tons of sugar to be …

By Rose de la Cruz Election is certainly just around the corner because programs supposedly supporting the lowly— those in the poverty line (from wages inadequate to feed their families), senior citizens, the disabled and solo parents and, ultimately the indigenous people (IPs) or  the first ones to lose their properties in the name of progress– are being launched months …

A proposal to construct a farm-to-market railway along the existing rail line of the Philippine National Railway (PNR) is now being evaluated by the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center after both Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. expressed support to the project. Once the PPP Center is done in its evaluation, the project will be endorsed …

The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Health (DOH), and their attached agencies, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have agreed to allow BAI to assist the FDA in conducting testing on animal vaccines and biologics. In a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the agencies signed on June 4, 2024, the …

With the western seaboard of the Pacific being battered by extreme weather disturbances, Iloilo 5th District Rep. Raul Tupas called on the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to put up marine hatcheries, similar to the ones utilized by Northern Iloilo State University and other successful models. Tupas, vice chair of the committee on aquaculture and fisheries resources and …

In keeping with one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to “end hunger, to achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” with aquaculture of farming aquatic plants and animals like fish and seaweeds, the UP Diliman College of Science is developing sustainable management approaches for emerging aquaculture species through continued monitoring and conservation efforts …

Biologist and Balik Scientist Dr. Nikki Heherson Dagamac is on a mission to assess and monitor the elusive tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) in Mindoro to protect it from extinction. Through Project MATAPAT (or Multidisciplinary Approaches for Tamaraw Protection against Threats), he seeks to assess the current status of tamaraw in Mt. Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary (MCWS) and identify priority areas of conservation …

Meat imports grew by 11.3 percent or 397 million kilos during the first four months of 2024 as importers anticipate higher global prices, a weaker peso, and lower hog production due to El Niño. Data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that meat importation from January to April this year surpassed by 41 million kilos the 356 million kilos …

By Rose de la Cruz Palay farmers definitely had it good last May when farmgate prices (or some call it producers’ prices) rose 30.2 percent to P24.81 per kilogram, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. They deserve every bit of that increase because they were the ones that tilled and took care of the crop during the severe …

By Rose de la Cruz Indigenous People (or our katutubo) are usually those who live in the hinterlands– far from everyone’s reach– such that they are excluded from our technology, our (foreign-acquired) culture and tastes, our churches and schools and from everything else. As such, they do not enjoy what we consider basic necessities because theirs is far from basic– …