SAMAL, Bataan: The Department of Agriculture through the municipal agriculture office distributed free certified palay seeds to farmers here. Samal municipal agriculturist Nora Medina explained that the distribution of palay seeds was part of the DA's Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP) which is going on for about six years. 'Through the RCEP, farmers receive free palay seeds, free fertilizers, free farm machinery, financial assistance, and even training,' she said. Medina said that a farmer gets free palay seeds depending on the area of the rice land he tills. For a hectare of land, for example, a farmer is entitled to a 40-kilo bag of certified palay seeds. She said that in Samal there are more than 800 beneficiaries of RCEP tilling 1,070 hectares of land planted to palay. Farmers were grateful for the assistance given to them by the government but asked for additional palay seeds. Farmer Abner Dela Cruz of Barangay San Juan when asked what he can say about the government's assistance to farmers answered: 'This is good in order to make ends meet.' He added that government should continue on helping the farmers. 'Help should be consistent and needs a follow through and evaluation,' Dela Cruz appealed. Samal municipal administrator Jay Sammy Lat who witnessed the distribution of the palay seeds said Mayor Alex Acuzar was thankful to the Agriculture Department for its assistance to Samal farmers. 'Mayor Acuzar wants the best for farmers in the town and he is hoping that more assistance will come to augment the municipality's program for the agriculture and fishery sectors,' Lat said.
