Written by the Web Team
Not contented with its average yield of 4.5 t/ha, the local government unit of Santiago City, Isabela conducted a season-long rice 
production training for farmers in collaboration with the Philippine Rice Research Institute from December 2013 until April this year.
Although Santiago City surpassed the national average yield of 3.88 t/ha, it ranked 4th among the cities and municipalities in Isabela in terms of average rice yield.
“More than raising our rank in rice production, we want to help farmers improve their lives,” Mayor Joseph Tan said.
Through the training, the local government unit aims to optimize the city`s 7,500 ha of rice fields covering 27 of the 37 barangays.
Leonardo Maylem, city agriculturist, said the trained rice tillers will be deployed to communities to train fellow farmers on PalayCheck, an integrated farming system on rice and Palayamanan Plus, a diversified integrated rice-based farming system.
Generally, Isabela contributes to around 13 percent of country`s rice produces and is known as the “Hybrid Rice Champion” of the Philippines. It is also one of the country`s top producing provinces in corn.
