BAGUIO CITY — The Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPAG) reported that since the Pangasinan Corporate Farming (PCF) started in 2022, more farmers enjoy abundant harvest making their economic lives better.

According to Provincial agriculturist Dalisay Moya, about 66.03 hectares were planted, which resulted in a yield of 4.93 metric tons per hectare during the dry season from 2022-2023. She said the total yield in the next dry season, 2023–2024, which covered 418.44 hectares, went up to 5.10 metric tons per hectare.

She added that during the wet season, meanwhile in 2024, a total of 633.40 hectares was planted and yields are expected to be robust and potentially increase production.

The PCF was introduced by Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico III’s innovative program. Major projects under the program outlined by the governor are rice production, corn production, high-value crop production and fishery production.

The program was aimed in enhancing food production and transform farming into a lucrative and sustainable economic enterprise through the so-called convergence approach among farmer cooperatives and associations, local government units, the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies, different national government entities, the private sector, and financial institutions.

According to the OPAG, 54 FCAs which have a total of 1,448 individual farmer members benefited from the program. The office added that the program provided input support to farmer-beneficiaries in which 5,057 bags of organic fertilizer were distributed. Also, some 9,668 bags of inorganic fertilizer were given to enhance yield and soil health.

During the dry cropping season of 2023-2024, palay harvest posted an increase of about 13.59 percent, which translates to 12 cavans per hectare increase from the previous dry season of 2022-2023.

The OPAG said that farmer cooperators can now enjoy an increased average yield per hectare of 4.49 metric tons or 90 cavans.