Almost an hour of banca ride is all Desie Suco Paalisbo, a palay farmer, needs to get the government's free farming inputs in Zamboanga del Sur.

Paalisbo crosses the river to reach Purok 5, Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur to get her inbred seeds and fertilizers under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.

Once she had it, Palisbon would make sure to plant the two sacks of seeds and two sacks of fertilizers immediately on their family's one-hectare palay field so that when floods come, usually during storms and heavy rains, she would have harvested the crop by then.

Palisbon, who was a reelected kagawad (village councilor), will also dutifully inform the members of Barangay Angeles Farmers Association, where she is also an officer, about when RCEF stocks are ready for pick up. The association is registered with the RSBSA (Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture) and with the Department of Labor and Employment to qualify them for all government assistance.

She became a member of RCEF in 2020 and has since felt a big relief from obtaining her input for free from the government.

Rats and stem borers are her constant problems in palay farming during the dry season crop and the floods during the wet season.

Her usual yield is 30 to 40 sacks (65 kg per sack) during the wet season crop and 50 sacks or more (70 kg per sack) during the dry season crop.

She and fellow farmers would base their schedule of crossing the river for the RCEF supplies on the high- or- low- tide days of the calendar.

Since the farm is located near the river and in the lowest-lying area of the province, floods are normal occurrences. She is also grateful for the extension services provided by the municipal agriculture office.

Even with such odds, she said, they have no choice but to plant palay for their sustenance as other forms of livelihood are hard in their province.

With El Niño just around the corner, she said, they might be forced to switch to planting other crops like corn and monggo, as they did in previous El Niño episodes.

Her story complete with photos was featured by the DA-PhilRice Midsayap on Facebook last 22 November.

In the post, she said she plants whatever quality inbred seeds they get from the RCEF seeds program because their harvest is aplenty compared to what they used to plant before RCEF.

"Simula pa lamang 2020 ay nakakatanggap na ng binhi mula RCEF si Desie. Kung dati ay nasa 26 sako ang kanyang ani, ngayon ay umaabot na nga raw ito ng 45 sako," the DA-PhilRice Midsayap post said.

"Sa kasalukuyang taniman, umaabot sa 2,351 sako ng binhi ang naipamigay ng programa at ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Tambulig sa kanilang bayan. Kabilang sa mga barayti na kanilang natanggap ay NSIC Rc 222, Rc 442, at Rc 160," it added.

"Why will you not be proud in your heart knowing that PhilRice never stopped trying… and our farmers never stopped trusting the service we bring them," PhilRice Director John de Leon said in reacting to the post.