About 500 beneficiaries in Pulupandan town availed P20 per kilo rice through the “Bigasan ng Bayan” of the Negros Occidental provincial government and the Federation of Irrigators’ Association of Central Negros-Bago River Irrigation System (FIACN-BRIS) yesterday.
FIACN-BRIS president Pedro Limpangog said that after offering rice at P25 per kilo since 2023, they found a way to sell rice at an even lower price to align with the “Benteng Bigas, Meron (BBM) Na!” program of the national government.
“We will make sure this will continue. The FIACN-BRIS is closely coordinating with the provincial government in this program,” Limpangog said in a telephone interview.
Those qualified to buy are senior citizens, persons with disabilities, solo parents and beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, who purchased five kilos of rice each for only P100, sold at the Farmers’ Training Center with the assistance of the Municipal Agriculture Office.
Limpangog said the rice supply came from a farmer in Barangay Ayungon, Valladolid, who harvested palay (unhusked rice) on June 7.
“We had it dried on June 8 and 9 and milled on June 11 at the Tabunan Rice Processing Center in Bago City,” he said.
For now, palay supply is still minimal since farmers in the BRIS northern district have only started planting and the irrigation system in the southern district has just opened.
“We expect that by October, there will be more production with the assistance of the provincial government,” Limpangog said.
A few years back, the province tapped FIACN-BRIS, which is under the National Irrigation Administration-Negros Occidental Irrigation Management Office, for its Dagyaw Project to produce high-yield rice at a lower production cost with the assistance of job order workers, who are also association members, in planting crops and operating farm machinery.
The FIACN-BRIS, composed of 44 irrigators associations, has members in the cities of Bacolod, Bago and La Carlota, as well as the municipalities of Murcia, Pulupandan, Valladolid and San Enrique. (PNA)