Corella farmer shows ways to improve rice yield
NEW CORELLA, Davao del Norte – When he harvested an average of 10.2 metric tons in his 2.3 hectare farm here in October last year, William Ticar Dedoroy knows another episode of high yielding varieties has come anew, since he started farming during the Masagana 99 time of the 1970s.
He remembers IR 36 of that time when the country attained self-sufficiency for a brief period even exporting rice for the first time.
IR 36 yielded 140 cavans, or 140 bags, equivalent to seven metric tons a hectare, a phenomenal yield when the other common varieties would yield 100 cavans a hectare, or five metric tons.
After that brief period of high yield and until now, the country’s rice farms went back to the low yield regime averaging six to seven metric tons a hectare.
He was impressed with his first harvest of the US 88 hybrid variety in the last cropping season that ended in October. Developed by Seedworks Philippines, US 88 is “soft and smells good,” Dedoroy said, comparing it with the other good tasting varieties.
Besides, the US 88 variety has long grains, which he believes should persuade traders and commercial sellers to buy them at higher farm gate prices.
“The farmers here would rather use the inbred, than the hybrid. He said the other hybrid varieties only have the reputation of high yield but the taste has not been attractive to ordinary Filipino consumers.
Since 1975 when he started farming here, Dedoroy has been using in-bred varieties, and in some occasion, would also plant the rice varieties that were being hyped as having high yield.
Although an in-bred variety user for a long time, he said he had longed to shift to the hybrid variety of the reputable kind.
Last year turned providential for him.
The provincial government and the regional office of the Department of Agriculture announced a package of support to farmers who would shift to hybrid.
Governor Anthony del Rosario said the province would provide free seeds and the Department of Agriculture would provide free technical assistance through the rice crop manager (RCM), who will mentor farmers on soil preparation, planting and the harvest of the crop.
The RCM system analyzes the soil, the seedbed preparation, transplanting, application of fertilizers and the harvesting practice.
The package of support to farmers came after the Duterte administration embarked on a fresh attempt at rice selfsufficiency by providing full support to farmers.
The Department of Agriculture has also chosen the hybrid rice varieties to offset the lack of additional lands to be opened for rice production.
Seedworks tendered three of its prime hybrid seeds, including US 88, which Davao farmers prefer, and TH 82, which are preferred by farmers from the Caraga Region.
In this rice-growing town of Davao del Norte, Dedoroy and eight other rice farmers volunteered to plant the US 88 variety, banking on the government’s financial support which required farmers only their land and their labor.
The planting soon began in May last year, while the first harvest was made in October.
Dedoroy notched the Masaganang Ani award in the region for posting the highest average yield.
By the second cropping season or by late March this year, Dedoroy expects traders and the cooperative to buy their palay at a higher price. “They should be convinced . The consumers may have already spread the word that US 88 really tastes good.”
There are now 35 farmers in this town who have planted US 88, he said.