Batac eyed as Ilocos Norte's rice granary

NARVACAN, Ilocos Sur – Nearby Ilocos Norte province is looking at the newly designated City of Batac as its rice granary. Batac Councilor Bernan Marders said that the city is the ideal area to be the rice storehouse of the province not only for its strategic location but also because it houses one of the branches of PhilRice. Marders said that the province has no rice shortage so far but he said that it is more prudent to prepare for the future. He called on residents of Batac to act as the province's trader and host Ilocos Norte's stock of rice. Nearby Dingras town is incidentally the main producer of rice in the province. Other main rice-producing towns in Ilocos Norte are Solsona, Bacarra and the cities of Laoag and Batac. All these towns are near Batac. Under Marders' proposal, various barangays (villages) of Batac would be buying rice not only within the town but also in the other towns of the province. He said that if the provincial government would be in charge of the distribution and storage of rice, the poorest of the poor in Ilocos Norte would be able to procure rice. In 1999, the National Tobacco Administration turned over part of its Research and Development complex in Batac to the PhilRice. That station in Batac became the center for dryland agriculture R&D focusing on the improvement of rice-based cropping systems in semi-arid areas and development of on-farm water conservation and storage techniques. Production of rice in Ilocos Norte rose from 132,818 metric tons in 2002 to 208,570 MT in 2003 and 211,932 MT in 2004. Demand for rice in Ilocos Norte is slightly less than 70,000 MT in 2004 so there were surplus of over 140,000 MT, which meant that the province could produce three times its demand for rice. - GMANews.TV