When It Comes To Agriculture, Batac City Is Bold And Careful

Boldly, “Batac City Earmarks P100-M For Agri Development[1]” (Reynaldo Andres, 20 August 2020, PNA). That is only for the rest of the year 2020. Priority areas are rice, corn and other high-value crops.

I have yet to read another PH City doing that for her farmers. “Mayor Albert Chua said the city government is optimistic that the amount will help subsidize production cost of local farmers.” Batac must love her farmers that much. Actually, it is also a show of support to PhilRice in its obligation to increase rice production this pandemic times.

Mayor Chua says, aside from providing mechanized water pumps, Batac is at the same time supporting the zanjeras. The zanjeras, from the Spanish word zanja, meaning ditch or canal, are communal irrigation systems[2] (Carlos D Isles, “The ‘Zanjeras’ Of Ilocos Norte,” 04 November 2015, Inquirer.net). Mr Isles says of them:

The zanjeras… are a rich source of lessons in social organization, equitable water distribution, voluntarism, and strict implementation of rules and regulations.

We don’t have something like zanjeras in my hometown of Asingan, Pangasinan, so to each his own water watch day and/or night. We Ilocanos in Pangasinan have to learn from the Ilocanos in Ilocos Norte.

Batac is lucky because it is “currently enjoying the support of MMSU and PhilRice to meet the city’s production target(s) not only in rice but also on corn, tobacco, and garlic.”

The occasion was actually the launching of “3rdRice Paddy Art” held at the campus of Mariano Marcos State University, MMSU, on Tuesday, 18 August 2020. I might say I am a fan of paddy art, but this is the first time I read that it happened in MMSU – the original paddy art was exhibited in the ricefields of PhilRice 4 years ago, when PhilRice featured President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo in a paddy art[3] (superimposed image) using different varieties of rice “to define the facial features” of the two highest PH officials (superimposed image, The Bohol Chronicle).

So, the City of Batac is actually cultivating 2 different things: rice and paddy art. Rice is to feed the body; paddy art is to feed the eyes. We all need cereal and beauty.

Mayor Chua says that in rice alone, Batac is targeting to spend P40 million for this second cropping season. By November, 700 units of mechanized water pumps will be unloaded to rice-producing barangays. Batac will also unload P30 million worth of postharvest facilities by that time.

He also notes that Ilocos Norte’s arable areas “are fast depleting,” and that is why he is “hoping the road networks in the barangays will be completed to give way to the development of sloping areas for food production.” Farm-to-market roads.

Now then. Sloping areas are irrigated only by rain – or water pump. The Batac farmers may have to additionally learn Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, SALT, a system pioneered by Baptist missionary Harold Watson in Davao del Sur in the 1970s[4]. SALT will further sweeten agriculture in Batac!@517

 


[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1112860?fbclid=IwAR32QsTbIdD7vj-yyRf-FMCnWIuj6U-6OOK-YF7t9fL67RqFJLiNpyvEIqs
[2]https://opinion.inquirer.net/90020/the-zanjeras-of-ilocos-norte
[3]https://www.boholchronicle.com.ph/2016/09/24/look-philrice-features-duterte-robredo-in-rice-art/
[4]http://www.agrowingculture.org/a-review-of-sloped-agricultural-land-technology-salt/


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