Combat Rice Shortage, Go for High-yielding Rice Variety

Written by Rey Anthony Chiu of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)

Shifting to high yielding varieties of rice from the traditional varieties can spell so much difference for farm yield, assures a top agricultural technology promotion officer in Bohol.

  "Once a farmer uses the high yielding varieties in his seeds, there would be an incremental increase in his production per unit area" Engr. Eugene Cahiles, of the the Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center bared at the weekly Kapihan sa PIA Thursday. 

  This as he underscored that the seed shift alone raises rice production dramatically so Bohol could quickly respond to the goal of rice sufficiency.

  "Even without altering production factor other than a shift to either high yielding hybrid or at least certified rice seeds, a farmer can get more than half his usual yield, he claimed. 

  The difference, Bohol Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog pointed out is a matter of 72 bags of rice per hectare compared to his usual 48 bags yield per hectare for hybrid rice.

  The two top agriculture officials in Bohol appeared at the weekly forum aired live over DYTR to elucidate on the government initiatives in responding to the rice shortage, which the country feels at present. 

  Both also agree that the problem is not that alarming in Bohol, which is able to produce almost 80 thousand metric tons and continuing to reap some 99 thousand metric tons by June of next year. 

  Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics bared that Bohol's rice sufficiency is still about 83%, meaning the province's farmers have been able to produce about 83% of its total rice consumption.

  The data also pushed Governor Erico Aumentado to issue a rice shipment regulation so as not to deplete local rice stocks and therefore allow the province to keep a buffer for local consumption. 

  The regulation, Quirog explained is based on the data from the previous bulk of the province's regular trading, not more than that. 

  To quickly recoup the production setback, Cahiles added that "by expanding the production area using certified seeds and hybrid seeds, Bohol could be more rice sufficient.

  From 1900 bags of hybrid rice planted by farmer adoptors last year, Cahiles said the APC is on to a 5,000 bags distribution target for irrigated as well as rain-fed lands this year.

  Bohol has about 47, 376 hectares of ricelands, only about 21,000 hectares are irrigated while most at 26,000 are rainfed. Now we are also focusing on how to make rainfed areas productive as well, he said. 

  Quirog quickly followed on as she pointed that land development in areas covered by Bayongan Dam is ongoing. 

  She reported that 2,000 hectares would be operational this year, while the rest [of the areas would be operational] in the near future.

  This as the national and the provincial government has poured in roughly P37M and P13.786M to sustain the goal of making Bohol 100% rice sufficient by 2010, Engr Cahiles added.