Big harvest for a small farmer

This rice farmer from the small and quiet town of Bangued in Abra, has made a record for himself – he harvested 296 cavans per hectare from his four-hectare rice farm.

Sixty-five-year-old Narciso "Tata Narcing" Bernardez was all smiles when asked how he feels harvesting, for the first time in his life as a farmer, 296 cavans per hectare (14.80 metric tons) from his hybrid rice farm in Brgy. Lubong in Bangued, Abra.

"Siempre, lahat kami sa aking pamilya masaya. Kapag ganito, mawiwili na akong magtanim lagi ng hybrid rice seeds, which was, according to him, recommended to him by Gilbert Barbers, Abra provincial techno-demo farm coordinator.

Tatang Narcing, as he is called by his barriomates, said that he has been in rice farming since he was 15. This is the first time, he said, that he had ever harvested this much, considering, he said, that he planted the hybrid seeds during the wet season.

"Iba pala talaga ang SL-8H hybrid rice. Totoong medyo malaki ang gastos dahil sa paggamit ng mga makabagong teknolohiya katulad ng pataba, pero sambot naman at alam ko, malaki pa rin ang kikitain ko dahil nga sa laki ng inani ko ngayon," he said, adding that his minimum harvest from inbred rice variety before was only about 80 to 90 cavans per hectare.

Tata Narcing’s harvest almost equaled that of lady farmer Aida Badong of Camarines Sur and Fernando Gabuyo of Nueva Ecija who harvested a record 344 and 335 cavans per hectare, respectively, using the SL-8H rice seeds variety.

Dr. Frisco M. Malabanan, director of the GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA), has reported that yields from hybrid rice average 6.2 tons per hectare with some areas reaching as high as 14.52 tons per hectare as in San Jose, Nueva Ecija and Davao del Sur as against the 4.4 tons per hectare from inbred rice variety.

"The increase in harvest in hybrid rice provides a positive outlook for the country’s rice industry. For the previous cropping seasons, our country has seen the benefits of hybrid rice, not only in increasing production, but also in raising farmers’ income, he said.

According to field studies of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the yield advantage of hybrid rice was reported at 33 percent (more than the certified seeds output) during the dry season and 25.3 percent for the wet season crop.