Misamis Occidental province is expecting higher rice yields at the end of the year as a result of its programs for the farmer-beneficiaries, an official said Monday.

With the provincial government’s free fertilizer program and assistance with land preparation inputs, Governor Henry Oaminal Sr. said the province can realize a harvest of up to six metric tons (MT) per hectare.

“While the national average production is only 4.9 MT per hectare, and Northern Mindanao’s current production yield in our rice industry is 5.2 MT per hectare, we are trying to target 5.6 to 6 MT per hectare to achieve our desired rice sufficiency,” Oaminal said during the peace and order council meeting here.

He said the province’s agriculture program, Asenso Rice Farmers Full Assistance, aims to sustain food self-sufficiency levels by giving aid to farmers, he considered as “heroes bringing food to every household’s tables.”

Oaminal said the initiative allowed farmers to also use free farm equipment and machinery which can lower the production cost.

Meanwhile, national agencies such as the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM) also helped local government units in the province to improve rice production.

From Oct. 9 to 13, farmer-beneficiaries harvested for the first cropping period under DA-BSWM’s Adaptive Balanced Fertilization Strategy (ABFS), a project that aims to enhance crop yields while also preserving soil quality for rice cultivation.

A weeklong consultation meeting with the farmer-beneficiaries and local government officials also took place that time, with insights from the success stories of the farmer-beneficiaries of Nazareno-Gamutan Agricultural Irrigators Association (NGADIA) who tested the ABFS. (PNA)