By DANIEL P. TAPAOAN, JR.

The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) has started distributing kilos of rice and packs of vegetable seeds to 1,000 families from various towns in Ilocos Norte who are affected by the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) amid the current health crisis.

This initiative is the Science-based Emergency Assistance Project in response to COVID-19 crisis in Ilocos Norte being implemented by the MMSU’s research and extension directorates. 

The project is funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).

On Monday (April 27), Dr. Dionisio S. Bucao, chief of university’s Garlic Research Center under the research directorate, and Ms. Mercy R. Gano, chief of Applied Communication section under the extension directorate, led the MMSU team in distributing three kilos of rice and three packs of vegetable seeds for each of the 100 families from five barangays in Solsona town: Bubuos, Bagbago, Bagbag, Barcelona, and Maananteng. 

Today (April 29), the MMSU team went to Banna and Marcos. A total of 130 families from barangay Bomitog in Banna, and 100 families from barangays Daquioag, Imelda, and Mabuti in Marcos received the goods. 

The whole project seeks to give 3,000 kilos of rice and 3,000 packs of assorted vegetable seeds to communities in Solsona, Marcos, Banna, Piddig, Vintar, Sarrat, Paoay, Pasuquin, Burgos, and the City of Batac. Relief distribution will conclude on June 5.

Gaño said the local government units and municipal agriculturists in these towns assisted them in the relief distribution. She added that other families from the City of Batac and towns of Paoay, Burgos, and Pasuquin will receive the relief goods next week. 

“As we provide rice and seeds to the communities, we also encourage them to establish their own vegetable gardens so that in times of crisis like this, they will have a source of food,” Gaño said. 

This project is an offshoot of the completed project of MMSU and DOST-PCAARRD on Sustaining Crop Productivity in Climate Vulnerable Areas in Ilocos Norte through Science and Technology Community-based Farms (STCBF) on Climate-Resilient Production Technologies.

A significant amount of about PhP 363,444.58 was left when the project was completed in December 2019. Thus, the MMSU, through the approval of DOST-PCAARRD, has used the fund to buy milled rice and seeds for distribution to various communities in Ilocos Norte. 

The milled rice is being bought from the farmer-cooperators or Zanjera organizations in the selected towns as a way of helping the Ilocano farmers and cooperatives.

This project supports the government’s commitment to improve food access (adequate supply and affordable food), improve nutrition, and increase the number of communities engaged in vegetable-food gardens as a means to combat COVID-19. (StratCom)