CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija (August 12, 2025) — Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. and Administrator Eduardo Guillen of the National Irrigation Administration joined thousands of rice farmers and members of irrigators’ associations across the country’s top rice-producing province on Tuesday to celebrate this year’s Second Dry Season Harvest Festival.

A ceremonial harvesting of palay was conducted on a 5.7-hectare farmland of Mr. Arsenio Mallare, a member of the Hoy Gising Irrigators Association, Inc., in Barangay Talipapa. The activity symbolizes the success of the government’s intensified rice production strategy under the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP), which supported a total of 76,075 hectares for double-dry initiatives in the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) service area, exceeding the original target of 61,985 hectares by 14,090 hectares.

The harvest festival comes on the heels of a record-breaking first-half palay output of 9.08 million metric tons, earlier reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority. With the first half output normally account for around 45 percent of annual production, the January-June harvest bode well for the target of the Department of Agriculture to produce a record 20.46 million metric tons of palay by year-end.

Through a coordinated push involving the DA, NIA, NFA, and local governments, farmers received free seeds, fertilizer, mechanization support, and market access. The DA said its focus remains on strengthening partnerships, increasing productivity, and ensuring better incomes for Filipino rice farmers. ### (Photos by Jay Morales, DA-OSEC)