Hybrid rice key for Nueva Ecija to retain ‘rice granary’ title

PALAYAN CITY – Using hybrid seeds, Nueva Ecija farmers can produce up to 300 cavans of palay (unhusked rice) per hectare, a ranking agriculture official said on Friday (July 24), citing the results of a yield competition financed by hybrid rice producer SeedWorks Philippines.

The opportunities opened by hybrid seeds will allow the province to keep its title as the country’s rice granary, said Bernardo Valdez, provincial agriculturist, when he graced the awards ceremony of the Ang Hari ng Ani (King of Harvests) program at the capitol here.

“The use of the US-88 hybrid rice variety – plus the modern techniques to farming – have really paid off. We hope that this will serve as an inspiration and motivation for our other fellow Filipino farmers to do better by adopting the best practices in rice farming,” said SeedWorks President Carlos Saplala.

Central Luzon remains the top rice-producing region in the country (based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority), generating 20.4 percent of the total Philippine rice production.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Nueva Ecija was the top rice-producing province with a yield of over 760,000 metric tons of rice, followed by Tarlac (over 275,000 MT) and Bulacan (over 174,000 MT).

Valdez said the Department of Agriculture has been extending seeds subsidy to farmers.

Due to delayed rains, only a little over 50 of the 200-hectares of rice farms have been planted with the grains, he said. “Napakaramot po ng ulan, kaya yung mga rainfed ay maaaring mahuli po sa pagtatanim (The skies have been selfish, which is why planting on rainfed farms may take place later),” Valdez said.

But work on farms supplied with irrigation are on track, he said.

Former migrant worker Emmanuel Soleta of Talavera town won the top prize by generating 300 cavans using US-88. He brought home a brand new Ford Ranger pick-up truck.

Two farmers who landed second and third, respectively, were given motorcycles.