MAFAR CONDUCTS REGIONAL SEED PRE-WORKSHOP

COTABATO CITY | April 27, 2021

Regional seed pre-workshop conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) at MAFAR Conference room, BGC on April 27, 2021.

It was attended by selected farmers, seed growers, researchers, and other stakeholders of Maguindanao while PhilRice staff and Lanao del Sur participated via zoom.

Engr. Ismael A. Guiamel, Director for Agricultural Services led the activity together with Dr. Mohammad S. Yacob, MAFAR minister, and Tong Abas, Regional Seed Coordinator.

Existing regional variety recommendations and percentage allocation, firmed-up variety and percentage, and target allocation for DS 2022 including PhilRice Seed Production and Availability of RS for WS 2023 was discussed by PhilRice Midsayap staff. The NextGen accomplishment reports were presented by NextGen BARMM Focal Person Ms. Elvie Betoni. Chief Omara M. Kempa presented the RCEF Seed Certification Report, Issues, and Concerns including Varieties commonly submitted for certification in the region.

Open forums and discussions were also done to firm up regional variety recommendations and target allocations for Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.

After the discussions, MAFAR Maguindanao Chief of Agriculture Services Dr. Saudi Mangindra presented the outputs for Maguindanao. For Lanao del Sur, it was presented by Rice Focal Person Muhaimin Ali.

The top 3 preferred varieties in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao are NSIC Rc160, NSIC Rc400, and NSIC Rc440 for both seasons of 2022. For WS the top preferred variety is NSIC Rc160 and NSIC Rc216 for the dry season.