Thousands join ARMM's Maguindanao rice festival

MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao -- Efforts of Moro peasants to maximize rice production is upbeat with their propagation of new high-yield, rain and drought-tolerant varieties suitable to Southern Mindanao’s varying climates.At least 34 rice varieties were showcased in Barangay Manungkaling in Mamasapano, Mguindanao during the Grand Farmers’ Day and Rice Festival of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Tuesday.The activity was organized by the agriculture department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.Makmod Mending, Jr., regional secretary of ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), told Mindanao Cross Thursday he was elated with the participation of thousands of Maranaw and Maguindanaon farmers to the event. It was a clear indication that farming communities in the autonomous region are now organized and are responding to our efforts to improve their productivity for them to benefit from agricultural interventions being extended to them for free,” Mending said.Tuesday’s mammoth gathering of Moro farmers in Mamasapano also bolstered the efforts of different sectors, including the police and military to show how the town is bouncing back from the adverse impact of what is now known as the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano incident,” which shook the nation to its core.At least 44 operatives of the police’s elite Special Action Force, 17 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and five villagers were killed in the incident, which mired the now 18-year government-MILF peace initiative.Maranaw rice farmer Arip Arimudin, 35, said he was fascinated with how Maguindanaon rice growers gained headway in their propagation of new rice varieties that can stand drought, excessive rains and pests. We in Lanao del Sur are also propagating these new rice varieties now,” Arimudin was quoted by employees of DAF-ARMM as saying in the Maranaw dialect, at the sideline of Tuesday’s Mamasapano activity.Also present in the event were representatives from the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries and the Bureau of Agricultural Research in the national central office of the Department of Agriculture.Monib Kandis, an ethnic Maguindanaon farmer, said there have been dramatic improvements in their rice harvests in the past three years owing to the continuing farming support from the ARMM administration. We want these initiatives of the ARMM to continue. We are thankful to Gov. Hataman and Secretary Mending for the continuing assistance,” he said in Filipino.