“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to solve complex problems in agriculture. All it takes is ingenuity and collaboration with the people that can make these happen.”

This is the gist of Sec. Manny Piñol’s message during his visit in the Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and Nueva Ecija on August 31-September 2, 2016.

The Agri chief has been making rounds in different provinces to personally hear the qualms of thej farmers and fishers, provide effective and timely solutions, and deliver needed interventions.

During his visit in Nueva Vizcaya, Piñol awarded a credit policy worth P10 million (M) for a cooperative bank in the province. The fund, provided under the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC), will allot loans to farmers at 9% interest per year with no collateral.

To top it all, the agri chief also awarded P140M worth of various agri-fishery projects in the said province.

In the Quirino Province, Piñol distributed P115M-worth of projects and 100 fiberglass boats to fishers and their families. Each town also received two heads of cattle as part of the farm multiplier program.

During the visit, Piñol underscored the importance of next generation farmers and urged those present to take advantage of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund scholarship.

“For those who want to enroll in agri-related courses, we have the ACEF scholarship,” he said

“We cannot sustain our agriculture if our children will never learn how to farm. Farming and gardening should be brought back in schools,” he said adding that DA will be launching a competition that will award P20M-prize for the best school garden in the entire country.

For the last leg of his Northern trip, the Secretary graced the Nueva Ecija Agricultural Summit wherein he commended the province for being a consistent top rice producer. The Secretary pointed out that the province may have unlocked the secrets of high yielders which are good irrigation, good quality of seeds, and enough fertilizers.

He also announced that he will be reviving the Multi-Purpose Drying Pavements (MPDP) following a few modifications to prevent the contamination of the seeds during drying.

“This will not be my last visit here. I will come back to check the interventions that were given to you and see if it helped you in your production,” he said. ### (Carlos Baldosa/AFID)