By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Rice, being a well known political crop in the Philippines, is put on the pedestal by any Philippine president in any scheme of food security. Our current president. PBBM made the staple crop a center of hot topic, or putting it bluntly, a source of controversy, during his presidential inauguration.
The President said then that he intended to bring down the price of rice from around PhP40.00/kg or more, to PhP20-30 a kilo. That was of course tantamount to an invitation to a controversy. The mainstream media fanned such by emphasizing on the lower amount of PhP20.00, never mentioning the range or the upper price. Expectedly, the media immediately became abuzz with raw, uneducated opinions by a lot of people including some agriculture experts, never giving it first a thoughtful consideration.
Instead of saying, is that possible, they immediately concluded that it is impossible.
Fast forward to the present. Some initiative of the DA-CAR, like the ongoing Hybrid rice Derby together with Soil Ameliorant Derby is proving that it may be possible to attain the PhP20.00/kg price of rice. The Derby in the municipalities of Sta Marcella and Flora, Apayao were just completed actually last April 3, 2023. The one in Paracelis Mt. Prov will follow on April 13
Look at the following info from the paper of DA-CAR RED Dr. Cameron Odsey presented during the culmination activity of the Derby in Apayao:
CAR has a total area of 89,351.46 hectares for rice production, of which 56, 931.93 is irrigated. This is a high compared to other regions. In fact, it is the 5th highest in terms of percentage of irrigated farms. To get the benefit of such irrigation services, farmers must be registered with the Registry System for Basic Services in Agriculture (RSBSA). Rice farmers registered with the RSBSA totals 126,279; which is less than 50% of the total 276,222 farmers.
Average rice production in CAR is only 3.46 tons/ha which is lower than the national average of 3.87 tons/ha. The region contributes a miniscule 1.71% of total Phil rice production.
As to the sufficiency level, CAR has only 82.9 % rice sufficiency supply. Benguet is understandably the least sufficient being the leading supplier of sub-tropical vegetables in the country (16.4%). Mt. Province (44.9%0 and Ifugao (63.9%) are the two other least sufficient. On the other hand, three provinces have surplus production with sufficiency of 193% (Apayao), 141.8% (Kalinga) and 130.4% (Abra)
Currently, CAR farmers use hybrid seeds (16.43%), certified seeds (11.05%), and good seeds (4.9%). The three types of seeds are very essential to attain good yield. The seeds could be hybrid, inbred or heirloom (traditional varieties native to the area).
The cost of producing hybrid per kilo in 2022 is PhP13.51(hybrid), PhP 14.64 (inbred), and PhP34.51(heirloom).
The result of the abovementioned Derby show average rice yield using hybrids could be more than 5 tons/hectare, way above the current production of 3.46tons. The cost of production such hybrid is only PhP8.57-9.77/kg or a reduction of 4.94-3.74 pesos. That is huge
When using ameliorant, the production came very close to 5 tons, more than 1 ton compared to the 2022 figure. That is also large. Those increase in yield and reduction in cost will surely have a bearing in decreasing the price of rice. After due considerations of other costs, this could lead to a selling price of rice in the vicinity of PhP25.00/kg.
The Derby by the way, was conducted in farmers’ field and done by the farmers themselves. pa If the result of the Derby is upscaled in more farms, definitely we will see a real huge reduction in rice prices validating the contention of PBBM.
I am glad I am a part of such Derby.
One of the participants in the Derby, farmer Aurelio Pangan of Flora, Apayao produced a whooping 262 cavans (13.1 tons) per hectare using one of the Derby hybrids. He was cited as the 6th highest producer in the Philippines this year. A farmer from Nueva Ecija obtained the highest yield of 16.95 tons/hectare followed by another from the same province with 15.5 tons produce. These are actual data from actual farmers that could point to a possibility of greatly reducing the price of rice. Its just a matter of properly upscaling things. Just no corruption, please
The CAR experience could be used as a springboard.
Also an important consideration is the fact that the use of soil ameliorants like the materials used in the Derby will result to the reduction of inorganic fertilizer usage. It is good for the environment, it is good for the sustainability of soil productivity in the long run.
Aside from using new varieties of hybrids and inbreds, the balanced fertilizer strategy espoused by the DA earlier, and the use of soil ameliorants, biostimulants, and biofertilizers must be earnestly pursued.
We should look forward to a better agricultural production environment, and better food security in the future. **
