TACLOBAN CITY – The regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing a modest growth of 3.4 percent in rice output this year which it achieved six years ago.
DA Regional Executive Director Bernadette San Juan expects that production will pick up at the post-Yolanda months as their national government stepped up the distribution of high-yielding certified seeds.
“The prospect is very good because we flooded farms with certified seeds. We don’t have to expand our area, we just need to improve our yield,” San Juan said in a press briefing.
San Juan said that they project an output of 1.03 million metric tons (mt) this year which is slightly higher than the actual 996,000 mt yield last year.
The region has maintained the 990,000 mt level of production after it breached the one million mt output 2008.
San Juan said there has been an increase in the utilization of high yielding variety in Eastern Visayas following the free distribution of 63,000 bags of certified seeds to storm-hit farmers.
“After Yolanda, we just doubled the area planted with certified seeds through massive distribution,” she told reporters. Along with the seeds, the farm department also gave free fertilizers.
The seeds variety yields up to 3.5 mt of unhusked rice per hectare, nearly doubled than the 1.9 mt output for traditional seeds. A bag of seeds can be planted in one hectare.
Aside from certified seeds, the DA and private donors also distributed 5,000 bags of hybrid seeds. A hectare of farm planted with hybrid seeds yields up to 6.5 metric tons of unhusked rice.
The region has 185,961 hectares of land devoted to rice farming or 19 percent of the 976,385 hectares of farming area. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

PALO, Leyte- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) here in the region provided financial assistance to 34 students who comes from areas hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.
Each of the students, who were all scholars of the department, received P8,000 each, said Engr. Ramil Uy, senior science research specialist of the DOST-8 said during a press conference on April 21.
The beneficiaries were identified by their central office and residents of Sta. Fe, Alangalang and Ormoc City, all in Leyte and Basey in Samar.
The beneficiaries of the financial assistance are studying under the scholarship program of the DOST currently enrolled at the Eastern Visayas State University –Ormoc Campus ,University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College and Samar State University.
Uy said that the financial assistance extended to the students could be used by them to help repair their houses damaged during the November 8, 2013 massive typhoon.
Uy informed that they have submitted a request for an additional number of students who could be given similar assistance. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Leyte Vice Governor Carlo Loreto said that they have passed several measures that would help in the preservation of the already fragile condition of the environment of the province which was severely hit by supertyphoon Yolanda more than six months ago.
The United Nations had earlier acknowledged that Yolanda, considered to be the worst typhoon to make a landfall in the world’s recorded history, was due to climate change.
Last April 22, government agencies and other stakeholders observed the Mother Earth Day to serve as a reminder to the people to take good care of the environment.
Among the landmark environmental legislations passed by the Leyte provincial board were ordinance on anti-illegal logging and timber poaching; the provincial environmental code; the amendatory ordinance on sand and gravel; Clean Air Code; the ordinance declaring all schools in Leyte as pollution-free and the ordinance preventing the burning of rice straws.
Loreto said described these measures as “important legislative contributions” the provincial board has enacted to preserve the environment.
He said that political machineries are not only means for winning elections, but could be an effective tool for effecting reforms in the government.
“It is imperative that we reconcile the urgent need for prosperity with the shared duty to protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, in accordance with the rhythm and harmony of nature,” Loreto said. (AHLETTE C. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) will provide additional 500 chainsaws to storm-ravaged areas in the region as the agency expands coconut farm clearing to Samar provinces.
PCA Administrator Euclides Forbes said that 825 chainsaws have already been used. About half of the chainsaws are being operated by workers hired by PCA and the remaining half were turned over to various groups, to facilitate recovery efforts.
“We will buy more chainsaws by next month to replicate in Samar towns what we have done in the Leyte area. Our mandate is to start full rehabilitation in June, but we have started as early as February,” Forbes said.
The project has already hired 400 workers. Most of them are coconut farmers whose income significantly dropped after supertyphoon Yolanda totally damaged coconut trees.
The use of new chainsaws will be directly supervised by PCA with each worker earning P70 from sheared or uprooted coconut tree removed.
Massive clearing activities have been ongoing in Tacloban City and the towns of Palo, Tanauan, and Tolosa in Leyte.
As of last week 208,000 trees have already been removed from farms and converted into a lumber for rebuilding of destroyed houses.
The PCA reported that 33.82 million coconut trees in Eastern Visayas were affected by the storm last year. Of the total, 15.04 million were categorized as totally damaged, 9.06 million severely damaged, 4.98 million, slightly damaged, and 4.84 million moderately damaged.
Early phases of clearing activities are only confined in accessible coconut lands with grounds most suitable alternative to farming activities.
Department of Agriculture Regional Executive Director Bernadette San Juan said 88 hectares of farms in Leyte will be the pilot area for intercropping and livestock raising.
“Since these 88 hectares of coconut farms already cleared from debris, it is now prepared for intercropping and livestock production. Farmers need an income while waiting to fully restore their income to pre-Yolanda months, which will take about seven years after replanting,” San Juan said. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

ORMOC CITY- Subscribers of the Ormoc Telephone Company, Inc. (Ortelco) could enjoy a better and faster service.
This was assured by the company’s assistant manager, Inday Flores who said that right after the city sustained damages due to supertyphoon Yolanda, they immediately conducted their restoration operations and added more upgrading to serve better their clients.
Flores said that companies which sustained 80% damages during the typhoon got the chance of upgrading their services by incorporating the internet from its previous telephone services using fiber optic cable.
Currently, it has restored around 37% of its 2,283 subscribers in the city. Flores said that telephone connections in the city to include government offices and villages located at Camp Downes, Can-adieng going to Bantigues are now fully functional.
The Ortelco poured in considerable amount on the rehabilitation of their lines and connections after the typhoon, adding that some of their materials were even stolen.
Eighty percent of village lines are now using copper cable wires to ensure durability and clearer communication services, Flores said.
While restoration works continue, the telephone company accepts new applicants offering free installation cost with 75-meter service drop wire from the terminal box and another 25-meter inside jacketed wiring for free.
Only the telephone unit is to be paid by the new subscribers.
The Ortelco has been in operations in Ormoc City since 1952.
It adopted digital after sustaining damages in 1991 flashflood and now went into fiber optic cable and incorporating the internet following Yolanda. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)