The Palay Sikatan Techno-Demo farms in the towns of Antique province are expecting higher yield this wet cropping season with the use of inbred seeds.

Municipal Agriculture Officer (MAO) Rene Barte, in an interview on Monday here, said some six hectares farmlands tilled by six cooperators were identified as Palay Sikatan Techno-Demo farms.

“Farmers are expecting to be able to harvest in the coming days 130 cavans of palay from their previously 110 cavans per hectare only,” he said.

Aside from the inbred palay seeds, he said the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Philippine Rice (PhilRice) Institute gave the famers a subsidy of PHP25,000 per hectare for the purchase of fertilizer, pesticides, and other needed farm inputs.

The palay is now on its ripening stage and is expected to be harvested this month. The planting period was from June to September this year.

“Palay Sikatan was implemented in Antique last year in Tobias Fornier and it turned out to be successful that San Jose de Buenavista Mayor Elmer Untaran wrote a letter of intent to DA to be identified also as techno-demo site,” he said.

Another techno-demo farm is situated in a six-hectare farm in Barangays Bitadton and Esperanza in the municipality of Culasi with 12 farmer cooperators.

Barte said they will be encouraging more farmers to adopt the program and the technology with the help of their Municipal Agriculture Offices (MAOs) because of its successful implementation.

With higher yield, he said farmers could contribute to ensuring food security in the province. (PNA)