Food agency urges farmers
to increase rice production


The National Food Authority (NFA) in this city is encouraging local rice farmers to increase their production.

NFA’s records said that last year the city’s farmers produced only 18% percent of the rice that is consumed by the now some 800,000 people in this city.

The remaining 82 perrcent of the city’s rice supply came from neighboring provinces like Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, and as far as General Santos City, Ilo-Ilo, Cotabato and Manila.

NFA provincial Manager Gaudencio Nuega Jr. said, of the city’s 98 barangays, only five of these are into rice production.

Rice-producing barangays include Manicahan, Talisayan, Curuan, San Ramon and Talisayan.
Nuega said, Zamboanga is not a rice-producing city and can be categorized as “critical” area in terms of rice production.

The rice-eating populace of the city consumes some 6,196 bags/sacks of rice per day, and only 15% NFA rice is being supplied by the food authority to the market while 85% are commercial rice, Nuega said.

Rice farmers, farmers ‘cooperatives, bring/sell their milled rice to NFA, and NFA supplies the market.

The city has about 3,000 hectares of flatland suitable for rice production, but only about one fourth of the area is being cultivated for lack of irrigation facilities.

The area called Balinsungay is just about 18 kilometers east of the city proper.

Most of the city’s ricefields in the city have been converted into residential areas.

Some 60 hectares of Riceland at barangay Tulungatung, about 20 kilometers weste of the city proper has been identified for a resettlement site for the homeless in the city.

Despite protestations from the Department of Agrarian Reform, the city government spent over 100 million pesos to fill up about ten hectares of this rice field for a housing project.

A ricefield located at the east end of the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) runway is now occupied by a religious group where only grasses grow these days.

Studies have shown that if the entire area can be irrigated, farmers there could have three cropping and harvests in a year, more than enough to supply the needs of the people in this city and with some extra for sale in neighboring islands and provinces.


Money is readily available in Zamboanga for water projects. 


The city has three water fountains costing no less than a total of more than P30 million.


These projects, beautiful to the eyes, throws water to the air, but none of these drops fall on parched ricelands in Zamboanga.