Some 210 hectares (has.) of rice lands planted with hybrid rice (SL8, SL19, and SL 20) in the agricultural towns of Dagohoy and San Miguel, Bohol has shown good performance in this wet planting season ensuring the food security in the province of Bohol.

This came after the conduct of harvest festival and crop cut last Wednesday of planted hybrid rice in Mahayag, San Miguel hosted by the MAMAMIA Irrigators Association.

Provincial Rice Coordinator LorebienLagapa said that the yield performance has exceeded on the given target of the Advanced Rice Technology (ART) 160 hybrid rice program in the province as it yielded about 180 cavans per hectare or nine tons.

The harvest festival was attended by the visiting Irrigators Associations (IAs) presidents and farmer members namely: SANBABUE IA, Sto. Niño, San Miguel; DSMIA, Mahayag, San Miguel; and KawasanCommonal Irrigators Association, San Vicente, Dagohoy.

The activity was also attended by Provincial Agriculturist Liza M. Quirog, San Miguel Municipal Agriculturist Marcela P. Palma and some staff from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) and Municipal Agricultural Office in the municipality of San Miguel.

The 75 irrigators and farmers associations in 37 agricultural towns in the province have been elated as it provides them free seeds and technical assistance in the hybrid rice production, recognition for the highest yielder by giving one unit of combined rice harvester,palay buy-back of which 10% of their yields would be bought by the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) at P20 per kilogram, and processing the Boholanop alay to come up with the “BugasniDagohoy” at a lower price of P38 per kilogram. ( with report from Atoy Cosap)