Nueva Ecija launches ‘Otso-otso’ rice production program

CABANATUAN CITY – "Otso-otso," the latest Pinoy dance craze popularized by comedian Bayani Agbayani, has caught the fancy of officials in Nueva Ecija, a premier rice-producing province.

Gov. Tomas Joson III launched recently an "Otso-otso" program to boost the production of hybrid rice in the province.

Called "Sa Hybrid Otso-otso todo Panalo," the program involves the planting of hybrid rice - which can outyield conventional or inbred varieties by at least 15 percent - in 16,888 hectares of agricultural lands in the second cropping season that runs from December to April.

"Dito tayo sa otso-otso," said Joson, obviously ecstatic over the program which could further boost agricultural production in the province, a known rice granary.

Serafin Santos, provincial agriculturist, told The STAR that the governor conceived the program while thinking of a way to help boost agri production in the province in support of President Arroyo’s Gintong Masagang Ani (GMA).

"Governor Joson wants something that is catchy and something that will appeal to the farmers," Santos said, recalling that the governor first thought of naming the program after the Spaghetti Dance to create a bandwagon effect.

"But then, he said, he (Joson) thought the spaghetti song had a negative connotation because it might cause fluctuation in the harvest. So we went for otso-otso."

Santos said that the 16,888 hectares being targetted by the provincial government under the program is more than 50 percent of what Central Luzon has allotted for hybrid rice production. It is also a big jump from the 1,238 hectares and the measly 600 hectares planted to hybrid rice during the last wet season (May-October 2003) and dry season (November-April 2002), respectively.

Seeds for hybrid rice production will be provided by the Philippine Rice Research Research Institute (PhilRice) central experiment station in the Science City of Muñoz, Bayer and SL Agri-Tech. Among the available varieties are 72-H, Bigante and SL8-H.

The program to widen the province’s land area for hybrid rice production was prioritized by Joson following his recent trip to China where he learned that 90 percent of Chinese farmers plant hybrid rice, producing an average of 11 tons or roughly 220 cavans per hectare compared to only four tons (90 cavans) in the province.

In Nueva Ecija, three local farmers have produced hybrid rice in large quantities. They are Francisco Gabuyao of Barangay Tundod, San Jose City who harvested 237 cavans per hectare; Ed Policarpio of Barangay Palagay, Cabantuan City (192 cavans) and Crispin Barcansel of Llanera (180 cavans).

Based on studies, hybrid mestizo rice increases the income of farmers with an average net of P25,000 per hectare, uses only 20 kilograms per hectare of seeds and has excellent eating quality.

A study conducted in 1988 and 1999 showed that a farmer can get 1,272 additional kilos per hectare using PSB Rc 72H, type of mestizo rice. as against inbred or ordinary palay.

To further encourage local farmers to plant the high-yielding variety, Santos said the provincial government has launched a search for the top hybrid rice-yielder in the province.

A cash pot of P99,000 has been put up for the top three hybrid yielders in the province and to farmer technicians. The top yielder will get P30,000.

The contest will run up to April at the end of the second cropping season.