The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) recognized Davao Oriental for achieving 95 percent of rice delivery and distribution targets for this year’s wet season.

In an interview, provincial information officer Karen Lou Deloso said the province is set to receive the certificate Friday during PhilRice’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) virtual midyear review.

For this year’s wet season, the province delivered 8,647 bags of rice, exceeding its target of 8,500 bags.

Deloso said the province’s production covers at least 8,000 hectares of rice fields in rice-producing municipalities in the province, which include the towns of Banaybanay, Lupon, Governor Generoso, Caraga, Baganga, Cateel, and Boston.

“DA-PhilRice lauded the province for complementing its RCEF Program, which focuses on ‘rice farm mechanization; inbred rice seed development, propagation, and promotion; expanded rice credit assistance; and rice extension services,’ among other rice farmers’ interventions,” Deloso said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Corazon Malanyaon thanked DA-PhilRice for the recognition, saying food sufficiency and security are a priority of her administration as they play a crucial part in improving the lives of marginalized farmers.

“Agriculture also has a huge potential in addressing the province’s poverty incidence and provides the food requirements of the people in the locality,” Malanyaon said. (PNA)