The Department of Agriculture (DA) will release shortly through the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) an initial P14 million to subsidize the ground leveling of some 1,000 hectares more in the service area of the Bohol Irrigation Project Stage 2 (BHIP 2) for development into rice paddies.
Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said the amount is part of P57 million that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap estimates the leveling project will need to attain the maximum irrigable area of 5,300 hectares. He said Yap committed to include the balance in DA-NIA's 2009 budget.
The governor announced Yap's commitment during the recent farmer's forum at the NIA-BHIP 2 conference hall in Barangay Calanggaman, Ubay town.
Engr. Carlos Salazar, NIA administrator who attended the forum confirmed DA-NIA's commitment.
He assured the farmers who organized themselves into irrigators associations that they can also enter into contracts for ground leveling and that the manual leveling method is acceptable.
Aumentado sought assistance from DA and NIA after, except for three, the contractors one after the other backed out from the leveling project. He said Engr. Modesto Membreve, BHIP 2 project manager, reported that the contractors gave up, saying that they could no longer cope with the high cost of fuel and maintenance of their equipment. They want to raise the contract price from almost P70,000 per hectare only to P91,000.
Membreve told the governor that the irrigators associations expressed interest in participating in the ground leveling but could absorb the cost of only up to P70,000, hence the effort to look for subsidy.
The governor said it is ironic that with the Bayongan Dam now filled to its 34.5 million cubic meter-capacity – enough to irrigate its service area for two cropping seasons even with no more additional rain – it still cannot do so because the ground leveling component of the project has yet to be completed.
The situation has turned back to rosy however, with Aumentado's announcement.
He said God forbid the occurrence of calamities and other fortuitous events, the target of Task Force Rice Accelerated Enhancement Response (RACER) for Bohol to be self-sufficient in rice by next year can be achieved after all.
Also present at the forum were local representatives of the National Food Authority (NFA) led by Nilo Caberte, Land Bank manager Oliver Tabigue and loans in-charge Alan Biznar; Kathleen Estillore of Quedancor, DA Region 7 Director Ricardo Oblena; Engr. Eugene Cahiles of the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center, Project Manager Yung Qu Park of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd that contracted BHIP the construction of the Bayongan Dam and appurtenances, Provincial Administrator Tomas Abapo Jr. and Ubay Mayor Eutiquio Bernales.
Caberte said NFA continues to buy palay at P17.50 a kilo. Their driers are also available to farmers, with those intending to sell their palay to NFA given priority in their use.
SSIA
Meanwhile, Salazar emphasized that the key to rice self-sufficiency lies in increased production. He advised the farmers at the forum against buying more land. Instead, he urged them to double their production first using agricultural methods that he himself has tried and tested using one hectare of his land in Salvacion, Bayugan, Agusan del Sur as demonstration farm.
Salazar developed the Sustainable System of Irrigated Agriculture (SSIA) that can double the rice yield at half the water use and less production cost.
He said SSIA supports the rice self-sufficiency thrust, cutting rice imports and dollar outflow and thus averting any further strain on the economy.
Salient features of the technology that enabled him to harvest 178 bags per hectare include the incorporation of 40 bags of organic fertilizer per hectare during land preparation, transplanting eight to 10 day-old inbred or hybrid seedlings, using only one plant per hill spaced at 40 centimeters (cm.) by 40 cm. between straight rows and hills, adopting intermittent "three days on and 10 days off" irrigation, deweeding, spraying organic foliar fertilizer cum pesticide and harvesting when 1/3 of the grains in the panicles are still green with the rest already golden.
Salazar emphasized that the seedlings must be treated tenderly otherwise they will be stressed. The one seedling per hill "policy" allows the plant to get all the nutrients it can get without competition from say, five other seedlings in the same hill – allowing it to develop more tillers, panicles, spikelets and grains.
Rice is not an aquatic plant, hence the intermittent irrigation to allow the soil to crack, thereby providing it with optimal aeration. Deweeding also cultivates and aerates the soil.
Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said the amount is part of P57 million that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap estimates the leveling project will need to attain the maximum irrigable area of 5,300 hectares. He said Yap committed to include the balance in DA-NIA's 2009 budget.
The governor announced Yap's commitment during the recent farmer's forum at the NIA-BHIP 2 conference hall in Barangay Calanggaman, Ubay town.
Engr. Carlos Salazar, NIA administrator who attended the forum confirmed DA-NIA's commitment.
He assured the farmers who organized themselves into irrigators associations that they can also enter into contracts for ground leveling and that the manual leveling method is acceptable.
Aumentado sought assistance from DA and NIA after, except for three, the contractors one after the other backed out from the leveling project. He said Engr. Modesto Membreve, BHIP 2 project manager, reported that the contractors gave up, saying that they could no longer cope with the high cost of fuel and maintenance of their equipment. They want to raise the contract price from almost P70,000 per hectare only to P91,000.
Membreve told the governor that the irrigators associations expressed interest in participating in the ground leveling but could absorb the cost of only up to P70,000, hence the effort to look for subsidy.
The governor said it is ironic that with the Bayongan Dam now filled to its 34.5 million cubic meter-capacity – enough to irrigate its service area for two cropping seasons even with no more additional rain – it still cannot do so because the ground leveling component of the project has yet to be completed.
The situation has turned back to rosy however, with Aumentado's announcement.
He said God forbid the occurrence of calamities and other fortuitous events, the target of Task Force Rice Accelerated Enhancement Response (RACER) for Bohol to be self-sufficient in rice by next year can be achieved after all.
Also present at the forum were local representatives of the National Food Authority (NFA) led by Nilo Caberte, Land Bank manager Oliver Tabigue and loans in-charge Alan Biznar; Kathleen Estillore of Quedancor, DA Region 7 Director Ricardo Oblena; Engr. Eugene Cahiles of the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center, Project Manager Yung Qu Park of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd that contracted BHIP the construction of the Bayongan Dam and appurtenances, Provincial Administrator Tomas Abapo Jr. and Ubay Mayor Eutiquio Bernales.
Caberte said NFA continues to buy palay at P17.50 a kilo. Their driers are also available to farmers, with those intending to sell their palay to NFA given priority in their use.
SSIA
Meanwhile, Salazar emphasized that the key to rice self-sufficiency lies in increased production. He advised the farmers at the forum against buying more land. Instead, he urged them to double their production first using agricultural methods that he himself has tried and tested using one hectare of his land in Salvacion, Bayugan, Agusan del Sur as demonstration farm.
Salazar developed the Sustainable System of Irrigated Agriculture (SSIA) that can double the rice yield at half the water use and less production cost.
He said SSIA supports the rice self-sufficiency thrust, cutting rice imports and dollar outflow and thus averting any further strain on the economy.
Salient features of the technology that enabled him to harvest 178 bags per hectare include the incorporation of 40 bags of organic fertilizer per hectare during land preparation, transplanting eight to 10 day-old inbred or hybrid seedlings, using only one plant per hill spaced at 40 centimeters (cm.) by 40 cm. between straight rows and hills, adopting intermittent "three days on and 10 days off" irrigation, deweeding, spraying organic foliar fertilizer cum pesticide and harvesting when 1/3 of the grains in the panicles are still green with the rest already golden.
Salazar emphasized that the seedlings must be treated tenderly otherwise they will be stressed. The one seedling per hill "policy" allows the plant to get all the nutrients it can get without competition from say, five other seedlings in the same hill – allowing it to develop more tillers, panicles, spikelets and grains.
Rice is not an aquatic plant, hence the intermittent irrigation to allow the soil to crack, thereby providing it with optimal aeration. Deweeding also cultivates and aerates the soil.
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