DAR CITES HYBRID RICE FARMING

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has cited the innovations in rice farming to come up with a “food-secure and resilient nation” as part of the thrust of the government for self -sufficiency in food production.

Dar said that the use of “modern rice technology and proper crop management can “definitely increase our rice production” which forms part of the holistic program that the Department of Agriculture has come up to push food production even with the COVID-19 pandemic.

He cited as evidence the harvest of at least 300 cavans of palay per hectare by the winners of the Masaganang Ani 300 contest that top hybrid rice producer SL Agritech Corp conceptualized in tandem with Go Negosyo and in partnership with the DA.

In a message to the winners of the Masaganang Ani 300 last August 28 that was made through a virtual session, Dar commended SL Agritech CEO Dr. Henry Lim bon Liong and Go Negosyo advocate Joey Concepcion for having strongly supported the Masaganang Ani 300 launch that SL Agritech conceptualized to open the eyes of the farmers to the wonders of hybrid rice seeds to their economic well being.

In fact, the top awardee, Danilo Bolos of Barangay Tagpos, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, opted to go into farming after a two decade stint as an OFW in Saudi Arabia as an engineer. He embraced SL Agritech’s seeds and have since profited handsomely. He is the top awardee with a rice yield of 339.81 cavans per hectare.

Florencio Sudoy is the second top awardee with a 310 cavan per hectare yield. Sudoy hails from Barangay Mabini, Sto.Rosario Nueva Ecija and he is proud to have two motorcycles, a Mio and a Suzuki and a four-wheel drive, Sportivo, because of SL hybrid seeds.

Mariano “Naning” de Jesus of Barangay Manga, Candaba Pampanga harvested 305 cavans per hectare while Ramon Palomo of Barangay Caballero, Guimba Nueva Ecija had 300.5 cavans per hectare.

Dar and Concepcion have lauded the efforts of SL Agritech to propagate the adoption of the hybrid seeds as a way to increase rice production in the country and save the Philippines from using up its dollar reserves.

Dr Lim challenged the farmers to embrace the hybrid seeds to increase their produce. “Nandiyan na iyong batas eh (The law is there). The only thing we can do is to cope with it,” he said, referring to the Rice Tariffication Law that allowed the entry of imported rice .

He also said that  hybrid rice farmers have been generating yields of as much as 200 cavans per hectare and have not been affected by low grains prices. Growing 300 cavans of palay per hectare would triple farmers’ revenue, he said.

SL Agritech has been at the forefront of efforts to educate the farmers on the wonders of hybrid rice and it has been conducting rice harvest ceremonies to open the eyes of the farming community on how they can best improve their rice yields and scale up their household income.