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PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE OFFICE

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

N

A

ow on the 5th year of its implementation,the office has sustained PRUTASimplementation. This is the commitmentof the Provincial Government towardsDA's banner program on GMA - HighValue Crops. PRUTAS identified Durian,

Mangosteen, Lanzones and Rambutan as the mainfruit crops to be developed in the province.

The main components of PRUTAS are theprovision of planting materials, inputs for theestablishment, and technical assistance in fruit treeproduction. The municipal government has its ownfruit tree production project while the provincialgovernment totally supported by providing plantingmaterials to different municipalities.

For the year, 48.07 hectares were planted todurian, mangosteen, lanzones and rambutan. Forthese crops, the total area maintained was 2,184hectares where 715 hectares were already bearingwith a total production of 19,513 metric tons. The totalnumber of farmers served by this project since itsimplementation is 9,493. For non - priority fruit crops,new area planted was 60.24 hectares. As of 2009,total area maintained is 1,282.51 hectares where

GMA - High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC) isanother banner program which the province gavefocus for 2009. Priority crops identified are fruittrees like durian, mangosteen, lanzones andrambutan; and abaca, banana, rubber,vegetables and cutflower.

3 GMA - HVCC

1,083 hectares were bearing with a production of3,242 metric tons.

The office in coordination with MAO conductedtechnical trainings on fruit tree production, specificallyon care and maintenance of planting materialsdistributed to beneficiaries. Also, the agriculturaltechnologists assigned in the area provided thefarmers with technical assistance through meetings,seminars, trainings and farm visitation.

One of the durian trees at the sciongrove in Pagkain ng Bayan

PRUTAS recipient in Pisaan, San Franciscodid round weeding in her durian plant

baca is another priority crop of Agusan delSur, the province being the major supplier ofabaca fibers to neighboring provinces.Specifically in the municipality of Sibagat,abaca is the identified One Town OneProduct (OTOP). Aside from mere

production of this commodity, growers and otherfamily members were already organized and trainedto produce handcrafts.

For 2009, the Provincial Government in partnershipwith DA and the Municipal Government of Sibagatunder the Support to Emergency Livelihood andAssistance Program (SELAP), allocated P1.1 millionfor the establishment of 40 hectares abaca plantationin Barangay Kauswagan, Sibagat. This will benefit 52abaca farmers who will receive production inputs likecorms, fertilizers and chemicals. All thesebeneficiaries are members of Kauswagan AbacaFarmer WeaversAssociation (KAFWA).

A.

B.

Program on Reform and Utilizationof Trees In Agusan del Sur (PRUTAS)

Abaca

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PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE OFFICE

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

The procurement of inputs was done in thelater part of the year and distribution is scheduled bythe first quarter of 2010. As a preparatory activity, theoffice in coordination with the MAO conductedtraining abaca production technology to these 52beneficiaries. This will enhance their knowledge andskills in abaca production.

Aside from SELAP, the Provincial Governmentunder its 20 % Provincial Development Fund,established 0.5 hectare abaca nursery and 40hectares abaca plantation covering 78 beneficiaries,which were all at vegetative stage (Table 15).

Table 15. Area Planted to Abaca

BARANGAYAREA

(HECTARES)

NO. OF

BENEFICIARIES

Sinai 20 35

Anahawan 10 15

El Rio 5 14

Tabon – tabon 5 14

T O T A L 40 78

Assisted Abaca farm in Sinai, Sibagat

Abaca Nursery in Sinai, Sibagat

As of November, 2009, a total of 274 hectareswere planted to banana. Most of theseareas were provided with production inputsfrom CELEBES Company. A total of 7,384hectares planted to banana that includevarieties like latundan, lakatan and cardava

with a production of 31,043 metric tons. In partnershipwith DA-RFU 13 and MAO, the office providedtechnology training for these beneficiaries.

Also, some 90 hectares of banana plantationin selected barangays in Trento, Sta. Josefa andLoreto will be established at 30 hectares permunicipality through the 2009 SELAP funds.Promotion and information dissemination for thedevelopment of new areas was intensified. This is alsoin support to the Goal 1 of DA on the development ofpotential areas for agribusiness.

Moreover, monitoring of areas planted tobanana funded under Convergence DevelopmentProgram in 2005 - 2008 was continuously done toassist beneficiaries in proper care and maintenance.

Further, in partnership with StrategicDevelopment Cooperation -Asia, Inc. (SDC Asia), theBanana Agrichain Competitiveness Enhancement(BACE) was piloted in Trento, Agusan del Sur. Theprogram highlighted the principles underlying goodagricultural practices for banana particularly thecardava variety. Several cardava farmers participatedthe program and in April 2009, a festival wasorganized in the same municipality with the theme,

“Cardava . . . Sikat ka!”.Awards and citationsw e r e g i v e n t odeserving farmersand ru ra l basedorgan iza t ions onthese categor iesBest Cardava Farm,Best Cardava Bunchand Best Cardava

Recipe.Contestants during the BACE DrawingContest held at Trento on April 2009

Mr. Lito Taneo, banana commoditycoordinator of PAO with other judges

C. Banana

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PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE OFFICE

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

Rubber is one of the priority commodities inAgusan del Sur due to its high demandboth domestic and foreign market makingit a profitable and promising agro-industrialinvestment. More so, the province'stopography, soil and agro climatic

condition suit the requirements for rubber farming. In2009, a total of 4,109 hectares were planted to rubber,which is barely 5 % to the 88,000 hectares potentialarea for rubber farming based on StrategicAgricultureand Fishery Development Zone (SAFDZ).

Funded under SELAP, some 45,000 buddedseedlings were procured in last quarter of 2009. Thesaid seedlings were distributed to farmers in fourteenmunicipalities and some employees of the provincialgovernment. This will develop an additional areas ofat least 70 hectares.

The project also maintained one provincialrubber nursery at the Pagkain Ng Bayan, Bayugan.About 16,000 budded seedlings were produced anddistributed to farmers.

The seminar on nursery establishment andmanagement was conducted in the municipalities ofRosario and Bunawan; while seminars on rubberplantation and establishment were conducted in 10municipalities that were recipients of the rubberseedlings under SELAP.

DA 13 also extended its support through theallocation of about 70,000 rubber seedlings orequivalent to 140 hectares in seven municipalities.There will be 140 farmers that will benefit from theprogram. Some 20,000 seedlings were alreadydelivered in Veruela and Prosperidad. The rest will bedelivered in January 2010. Table 16 showsdistribution of rubber seedlings and interventionsprovided to the municipalities.

SELAP rubber seedlings ready fordistribution to beneficiaries

Farmer - beneficiaries during thetechno training on rubber production

Table 16. Distribution of Rubber Seedlings and Interventions Provided, 2009

Intervention Indicator Target Accomp. Location

No. of

seedling

No. of

has.

No. of

beneficiary

> Distribution of rubber budded seedlings No. of 45,000 33,450 Bayugan 2,800 5.6 14

seedling Sibagat 2,500 5 10

Esperanza 2,500 5 10

San Luis 1,000 2 4

Talacogon 2,900 5.8 14

Prosperidad 3,600 7.2 15

SanFrancisco 2,500 5 10

Bunawan 5,000 10 20

Veruela 2,500 5 10

Loreto 1,000 2 2

Capitol 7,150 14.2 12

employees

> DA-RFU 13 Rubber seedling assistance No. of 70,000 20,000 Veruela, 10,000 20 20

seedling Prosperidad 10,000 20 20

> Provincial Nursery maintained No. of 1 1 Pagkain Ng 16,000 32 32

nursery Bayan

> Seminar No. of 6 7 Sibagat,

seminar Esperanza,

Bayugan,

Bunawan,

Veruela,

Rosario

D. Rubber

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PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE OFFICE

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

The Vegetable Sector continued to enjoythe strong support not only from theProvincial Government but likewise fromthe National Government thru DA-RFU13.

For 2009, the office distributed some 20,740 pouchesor 83 kgs of assorted vegetable seeds coming fromDARFU 13 benefiting about 20,000 households-beneficiaries in the province under the AcceleratedHunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) the bannerprogram of the National Administration to addresshunger and malnutrition. At 10 sq. m. area ofbackyard garden per household-beneficiary, theseseeds when planted easily translated to some 4hectares of additional area planted whichcontributed to about 20 MT production of primarilynative varieties of vegetables. In addition, anothersome 10,000 pouches of assorted vegetable seedswere delivered by DA-RFU 13 during the first quarterof the year purposely for the rehabilitation of farmers'vegetable farms damaged by flash floods that hit theprovince in December of 2008.

Aside from vegetables seeds, training onvegetable production technology was provided tosome 120 selected AHMP beneficiaries and 12agricultural technologists. The training focused onorganic farming which was jointly facilitated by DA 13and PAO.

Also, Vegetable has been included as acomponent of several farming modules where 10 outof the 18 modules were recommended for adoption byfarmer-beneficiaries of the Diversified FarmingSystem (DFS) Program in the ConvergenceDevelopment Areas (CDA) in all of the 14municipalities. About 35 % of the total number offarmers had adopted these modules. Unfortunately,most of them have not yet developed or planted theirareas for vegetables due to the expected high rainfallduring the last quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, area in the province planted to allkinds of vegetables under different programs of DA-RFU 13 and the LGUs totaled to some1,046 hectareswith 883 hectares harvested giving a production ofsome 5,735 MT. Understandably, this area alreadyincluded those under theAHMP mentioned above.

Of the 1046 hectares planted to vegetables,some 263 hectares were cultivated to leafyvegetables, 11.6 hectares to root vegetables and771.6 hectares to fruit vegetables. In terms of landarea, the municipalities of Sibagat, Bayugan,Prosperidad and Esperanza were considered themajor producers in the province. In terms ofproduction, Esperanza topped in fruit vegetables with3,645 MT production and posted a modest productionof 53 MT in leafy vegetables. It is significant to notethat Loreto posted the highest production for leafyvegetables with 128 MT followed by Bayugan andProsperidad with 94 and 50 hectares, respectively.

AHMP vegetable garden ofRomeo Talle in Sta. Emelia, Veruela

Pechay plot of one of the farmersin Sta. Emelia, Veruela

E. Vegetable

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PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE OFFICE

2009 ANNUAL REPORT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

Anthurium flower arrangement

Kaomana, in-demand variety of anthuriumwidely cultivated in Magkiangkang, Bayugan City

The Cutflower Industry in the province isprogressing gradually as evident in theincrease of area planted, volume ofproduction and total sales of existinggrowers. In 2008, Cutflower ProductionProject was allocated with P200,000.00

f r o m 2 0 % P r o v i n c i a lDevelopment Fund. Inputsfrom this allocation weredelivered in 2009 andimplemented at productiona r e a s o f B a r a n g a yMagkiangkang and VillaUndayon, Bayugan City with22 benef ic ia r ies . Thebeneficiaries were newgrowers and were notr e c i p i e n t s o f a n ygovernment projects in thepast.

Some 22 farmer-beneficiaries with 50 sq.m.Each were provided withplanting materials and otherinputs like fertilizer, fungicideand horticulture net. Theseareas were established astheir own production farmw h e r e a p p r o p r i a t etechnologies on cutlflowerproduction were adopted.The total number of suckersprocured and distributed tobeneficiaries was 2,600.Two communal farms at 400square meters each wereestablished to showcase thep rope r techno logy inAnthurium production.

T h r e e d a ytechnology trainings forbeneficiaries were also heldwith three modules. Regularmeetings once in every twomonths and quar ter ly

Cutflower Growers with their products displayedduring the Araw ng Bayugan Celebration

meetings for Provincial Federation attended by 19different cutflower associations were conducted.

The average monthly production in pieces foranthurium was 22,000; Chrysanthemum 1,000;Dahlia 35,000; Vanda/orchids 1,000; Aster 1,000;

D a i s y 6 0 0 a n dHeleconias 75p i e c e s , w i t h a naggregate value of aboutP 1.5 million. Marketoutlets were in Cagayande Oro City, Tagum City,Cebu, Cabadbaran,S u r i g a o C i t y a n dTacloban.

Moreover, technicalmarketing assistanceand product promotionwere extended to 150g r o w e r s . P r o j e c tmonitoring was alsoregularly conducted toassess the developmentof the association.

F. Cutflower