Photo Courtesy: Manny Piñol facebook page
Sorghum and Upland Rice Farming will start this month in six Pilot Areas of the vast Tribal Ancestral Domains of North Cotabato.
An initial area of 200 hectares will be planted to Sorghum with a Buy-Back Agreement with the Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures, Inc., a small company which Sen. Ping Lacson and I, along with several friends, established two years ago.
In the Upland Rice Farming Program, 200 families will be provided with seeds of the Upland Hybrid Rice Variety TH82 good for 1/2 hectare for their subsistence.
The Upland Rice Farming Program is supported by the Dept.of Agriculture under the National Rice Program which will provide the seeds and fertilizer support.
I designed these programs to address poverty among the Indigenous People of North Cotabato and contribute to agricultural productivity.
North Cotabato has an estimated 200,000 of Tribal Ancestral Domains mostly in the highlands which are largely unutilized.
Poverty Incidence and Child Malnutrition Rate are high in the Tribal Areas.
