LAOAG CITY, Feb. 23 -- Forty-five rice farmers from Currimao, Ilocos Norte received fertilizer vouchers with a total amount of PHP155,000 from the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday.

Other interventions extended were fuel subsidies, hybrid vegetable seeds, certified seeds as well as rehabilitation of small-scale irrigation facilities like solar power irrigation systems, diversion dams, and small farm reservoirs.

"This is an initial aid to all rice farmers who planted rice this dry season," Currimao municipal agriculturist engineer Erickson Biag, told the Philippine News Agency.

Biag said about 10 percent of rice fields in the municipality is affected by drought.

Based on the latest monitoring report of DA-Region 1, rice is one o...