Nueva Ecija barangay captain enjoys being a rice farmer

MANILA, Philippines - This rice farmer from the quiet town of Buliran  in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, is no ordinary tiller of the soil. He is the barangay captain in  Buliran, a position he has been holding since 2002.

“I enjoy my work as a farmer and as a barangay captain here in our barrio. As early as five in the  morning, I am already in my farm doing routine work and at around 9 a.m., I am at our barangay headquarters attending to the needs of our barriomates,” said Severino G. Payumo who, not too long ago, won first prize in the “Search for Hybrid Rice Highest Yielder” initiated by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.

Payumo bested 45 other hybrid rice farmers in the province who participated in the “Search” which was held in cooperation with local government agencies, among them the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), National Food Authority (NFA), Central Luzon State University (CLSU), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), and the Department of Agriculture- Regional Field Units (DA-NFU). It was hosted by SL Agritech Corp.

Mang Sobring, or simply “Kap” to his barriomates, was all smiles when asked how he feels harvesting for the first time in his life 345.6 cavans per hectare in his six-hectare rice farm, a small portion of which is planted to vegetables.

“Siyempre, masayang-masaya ako at ang aking pamilya. Noong mga nakaraang anihan, malaki rin ang inaani ko pero ito ngang huli, pinagbuti ko ang aking pag-aalaga at sinunod kong lahat ang teknolohiyang nararapat sa pagtatanim ng uri ng SL-8H hybrid rice,” he said.

The 69-year-old Payumo broke the record of 345 cavans per hectare harvested in May 2006 by lady farmer Aida Badong of San Nicolas, Camarines Sur who also planted the SL-8 hybrid rice variety.

Interviewed over the weekend at his simple but well appointed house, Payumo, married to Marcelina dela Cruz  with nine grown-up children,  said he was already  helping his parents cultivate their farmland “as early as when I was a high school student.”

Asked why he shifted from inbred rice production to hybrid rice farming, Payumo said it was the city agro-industrial and coop office in Cabanatuan City which convinced him to plant  hybrid rice variety.

“Napatunayan ko naman ito at hangan ngayon nga, hybrid pa ring palay ang tinatanim ko,” Payumo said, as he expressed high hopes that Nueva Ecija will someday become the “hybrid rice granary of the Philippines.”