Lucky hybrid rice farmer known tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines - Who will be the lucky hybrid rice farmers who will bring home the three major prizes to be given away by SL Agritech Corp. – an Isuzu deluxe multicab, a Kawasaki motorcycle with sidecar, and a Sinski scooter?

The lucky winners in the SL Agritech hybrid rice promo, dubbed “Todo Hataw sa Tag-araw,” will be know tomorrow, Feb. 15, when all the raffle tickets submitted by the participating SL-8H hybrid rice farmers will be raffled off.

Representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be on hand to witness the affair which will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Sterling bldg. in Pasong Tamo ext., Makati City.

Cathy Galura, SL Agritech senior vice president for operations, said there will be two first, second and third prize winners and 130 consolation prizes, among them 10 single door refrigerators, 10 flat TV sets, 10 washing machines, 20 colored cell phones, 20 stand fans, 20 gas stoves an 20 oven toasters.

Last year, SL Agritech, the country's biggest producer of the SL-8H super hybrid rice seeds, gave away vulnerable prizes including a trip to Hong Kong, hand tractors, rice threshers and water pumps. The prizes are a form of incentives for farmers to plant the high-yielding rice variety.

Henry Lim, SL Agritech chairman and CEO said his firm is also undertaking farm projects “which would encourage our farmers to plant hybrid rice variety not only to increase their harvest many times more but their income as well.”

“Dapat ang ibayong pagtuturo sa ating mga magsasaka ng mga makabagong teknolohiya sa pagtatanim ng hybrid rice para makatiyak tayo na hindi lamang natin matutulungan sila to uplift their conditions but we likewise believe, it could spell progress for our country,” Lim said.