The Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) developed the “GMA Super Rice” which can produce 240 cavans of palay per hectare, three times the present average yield of 85 cavns per hectare.
Philrice needs a homogeneous area where it can produce, at low cost, the super seeds that the more than 2 million Filipino farmers tilling 330,000 hectares of irrigated rice land and must have to make our country self sufficient in rice and to enable us to export rice once again.
The Iwahig Penal Colony has an area of 28,000 hectares. Of this, 10,000 hectares to 12,000 hectares can be irrigated and would be an ideal site for the government’s Rice and Plant Experimentation Station. A study conducted by the UP Engineering School of Agriculture in Los Banos, Laguna with cooperation of the Bureau of Corrections, Philrice and the Department of Agriculture, confirmed the viability of the project.
The Iwahig Penal Colony has nine big rivers and a rain forest for its source of water. A study shows that even a two-year draught will not affect the water supply needed for the irrigation project.
Moreover, Palawan, where the Iwahig Penal Colony is located, is typhoon free. It has an abundant supply of cheap prison labor. Inmates coming from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao can be tapped to develop and till the irrigated farm. The super seeds that will be produced in Iwahig will be very cheap and will make rice farming profitable to the farmers. He project, on the other hand, will boost tremendously the rehabilitation and reformation mission of the Bureau of Corrections: gainful employment will give back to the prisoners the sense of dignity and honor they lost because of their incarceration.
The Iwahig Penal Colony is the key to the success of the GMA Super Rice. The Iwahig Penal Colony will help realize President Macapagal-Arroyo’s dream of providing food for the poorest Filipinos.
Col. RICARDO B. MACALA (Ret.)
ricardomacala@yahoo.com
Philippine Daily Inquirer Issue
October 18, 2008
Philrice needs a homogeneous area where it can produce, at low cost, the super seeds that the more than 2 million Filipino farmers tilling 330,000 hectares of irrigated rice land and must have to make our country self sufficient in rice and to enable us to export rice once again.
The Iwahig Penal Colony has an area of 28,000 hectares. Of this, 10,000 hectares to 12,000 hectares can be irrigated and would be an ideal site for the government’s Rice and Plant Experimentation Station. A study conducted by the UP Engineering School of Agriculture in Los Banos, Laguna with cooperation of the Bureau of Corrections, Philrice and the Department of Agriculture, confirmed the viability of the project.
The Iwahig Penal Colony has nine big rivers and a rain forest for its source of water. A study shows that even a two-year draught will not affect the water supply needed for the irrigation project.
Moreover, Palawan, where the Iwahig Penal Colony is located, is typhoon free. It has an abundant supply of cheap prison labor. Inmates coming from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao can be tapped to develop and till the irrigated farm. The super seeds that will be produced in Iwahig will be very cheap and will make rice farming profitable to the farmers. He project, on the other hand, will boost tremendously the rehabilitation and reformation mission of the Bureau of Corrections: gainful employment will give back to the prisoners the sense of dignity and honor they lost because of their incarceration.
The Iwahig Penal Colony is the key to the success of the GMA Super Rice. The Iwahig Penal Colony will help realize President Macapagal-Arroyo’s dream of providing food for the poorest Filipinos.
Col. RICARDO B. MACALA (Ret.)
ricardomacala@yahoo.com
Philippine Daily Inquirer Issue
October 18, 2008
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