TABUK CITY, Kalinga– The chief agriculturist here, Julibert Aquino, said that with Republic Act No. 11203 or the Rice Tarrification Law already in place, lower rice prices is now certain leaving local farmers no choice but to enhance productivity and look for ways to reduce production costs to stay afloat.
He said that in the rice roadmap for the city, the acknowledged rice granary of the Cordillera, drawn up during the regional planning workshop on April 9-12 in connection with the implementation of RA No. 11203, one of the most immediate intervention measures intended to cushion the impact of the law is to provide seed subsidy to local farmers.
He expressed the hope that starting this coming cropping season, the entire rice production area of the city of 11,217 will be given free seeds 30 percent of which will be hybrid both from the RA 11203 intervention program and from the regular funding of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Aquino does not see any problem in convincing takers recalling that during the administration of President Gloria Arroyo when the government aggressively promoted a shift to the technology, there was a point when 45 percent of the production area of the city was planted with hybrid varieties.
Aquino said that when the Aquino Administration discontinued the seed subsidy, most of the farmers reverted to planting inbred varieties despite their knowledge they could produce more with hybrid rice.
He said that based on data in the Office of City Agricultural Services (OCAS), the hybrid varieties out-produce the inbred varieties by at least 25 cavans per hectare with the inbred averaging 130 cavans while the hybrid average at least 155 cavans.
Aquino said that the highest yield of hybrid rice per hectare from the records of his office is 203 cavans.
Aquino said that to offset the lower prices of rice, the foremost target of his office now is to raise the yield to at least 170 cavans through technology support to farmers.
Not all farmers in the valley are convinced about the superiority of hybrid rice though.
Julius Torres who is tilling a hectare in barangay San Julian said that based on his experience, he only harvested 15-20 cavans more with hybrid rice which he said does not really make much difference considering that the variety needs more fertilizer and at times, more chemicals because it is more susceptible to diseases than inbred varieties.
He admitted though that one reason the yield in his farm did exceed his inbred production beyond 20 cavans is the poor irrigation supply in the location and that in areas where the irrigation water is abundant like in neighboring barangay Balong, a hectare produces 150 cavans upwards.
Torres explained that hybrid rice requires more irrigation water than inbred rice.
On the other hand, Barnabas Barnigan, also of San Julian, asserts that hybrid rice could surpass the yield of inbred varieties by at least 30 cavans.
From 2010 to 2016 when the government practically abandoned rice hybridization, Barnigan was the only one among the 220 hybrid seed or F1 producers in Tabuk who stayed in business.
Barnigan had a loyal following who snapped up all seed produce of his 1.3 hectare area and there were times he had to refund advance payments which could not be met by his production.
Saying that apart from the farmers who bought seeds from Barnigan, there were also some farmers who availed of seeds from private companies during the years the government stopped supporting hybridization, Aquino believes that the hybrid rice technology had already established a foothold in the valley from which the new drive for hybridization could capitalize on. **Estanislao Albano, Jr.
