THE Department of Agriculture in Negros Island Region (DA-NIR) on Tuesday, June 6, launched the Rice Derby in Bacolod City to showcase the best practices in rice production that can be replicated by Negrense farmers.
Joyce Wendam, DA regional director said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is pushing for the implementation of Rice Derby to promote the use of hybrid seeds as method to increase yield.
“This is like a competition where participating seed companies will vie for the highest production or yield per hectare,” said, adding that the project was piloted in Samar.
Under the Rice Derby initiative, DA-NIR will utilize the contiguous eight-hectare farm of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental in Barangay Cabadiangan, Himamaylan City.
Of the total area, four hectares will be managed by private seed companies namely Syngenta, SL Agri Tech, Bayer, and Seed Works using their respective protocol or technologies.
The remaining four hectares will be under the DA and Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) protocol.
Wendam said the companies will provide farm inputs like hybrid seeds and fertilizers for the farm they will manage.
For the DA-OPA protocol, the agency will utilize the Mestiso rice seed variety of the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
OPA’s counterpart, meanwhile, includes labor and manpower expenses, Wendam said.
“The farm will serve as a demo area where local farmers can observe and learn various practices that can help them improve their production," the DA official said, adding that the initiative promotes location-specific seeds.
Meaning, farmers will be equipped with knowledge on what specific seeds are suitable for a certain area.
The delivery of seeds is scheduled on June 15 while planting starts second week of July thus, the first harvest is expected in October.
The DA-NIR will conduct farm tours for farmers in the province during vegetative and harvesting stages.
For the private seed companies, meanwhile, the recognition to be given by the DA especially to the firm with the highest yield will surely provide marketing boost to its product, Wendam said.
She pointed out that Negros Occidental currently has “positive” rice productivity, and it is “something that needs to be sustained.”
DA-NIR records showed the province’s rice productivity is pegged at 4.82 metric tons per hectare.
The figure is higher than the country’s target yield of 4.15 metric tons per hectare, it added.