Majority of Cagayan farmers shift to hybrid rice production

The farmers in this small town of Claveria located in the northernmost part in Cagayan province are adopting hybrid rice production. About 60 percent of the total rice farmers are now planting hybrid seeds and are harvesting about 44 to 55 percent more than their usual yield for an additional profit of around P31,000 per hectare.

This current wet plating season, about 1,500 hectares of rice are planted with hybrid seeds in Claveria. Hilario Somera, the municipal agriculturist, expects that more and more farmers will adopt the technology. “They have seen the benefits,” he said.

Somera introduced the hybrid rice technology in 2004 through a system called “techno-demo”. It showcases the actual  performance of hybrid rice. The local government finances the fertilizer – organic and chemicals – and everything that is needed while the farmer’s counterpart is farm labor.

At harvest time, the mayor, local government officials and farmer-leaders were invited to witness the hybrid’s progress and its outstanding yield performance. “We did the field day several times and when the farmers saw the good results, they were convinced the plant hybrid,” Somera explained.

Agricultural technologist Virginia Lagadon said the farmers were reluctant and cautious to try new technology. “If they don’t know the variety’s performance, they won’t use it because they are afraid that it won’t give them the yield they want. That’s a natural reaction, but now, almost all the farmers in her barangay are planting Arize-Bigante”.

Grace Magubat, agricultural technologist based in Santiago, Claveria, testified that a farmer harvested 4.3 metric tons of paddy rice from his half-hectare farm planted to Arize-Bigante last cropping season.

George Guillen, a farmer from Nagsabaran, Claveria, planted a 0.9-hectare area to Bigante and produced 8.88 metric tons equivalent to 177 cavans last season, compared to his previously yield of only 118 cavans using inbred rice variety.

“Nothing was changed in his planting methods. He used the same fertilizer and farm practices he used before but when he planted Bigante, his yield was huge,” the trio commented animatedly.

In terms of diseases and changing weather conditions, “Bigante is hardly affected by diseases even with an erratic weather pattern in Claveria. It still outperforms other varieties even during rainy season. It can tolerate bacterial leaf blight damage and now the farmers are planting Arize-Bigante even during wet season,” the three LGU officials said.

According to the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice  production report, farmers in Claveria who planted Arize-Bigante during last year’s 2005-06 dry season posted an average yield of 6.03 metric tons per hectare from a total harvested area of 659.63 hectares compared to inbred which produced 4.16 MT/ha from 1,141.38 hectares equivalent to 44.9 percent yield advantage.

During the 2006 wet season, Arize-Bigante yielded 54.9 percent more compared to inbred. And for this year’s 2006-07 dry season, Arize-Bigante outperformed inbred with 6.38 MT/ha against 4.44 MT/ha equivalent to a 43.7 percent yield advantage.

The local government was a big help in convincing farmers to plant hybrid rice. Claveria Mayor Pablo N. Bolante Jr. allotted P1 million to purchase the hybrid seeds and then distributed to the farmers at its original price through a no-interest-loan scheme.

“We could now safely say that Claveria will soon become ‘Bigante Country’ since we are now considered the topnotcher for this hybrid variety use,” the three proudly declared.