Techno demos help uplift farmers’ livelihood

MANILA, Philippines - The government should carry out more technology demonstrations that will help uplift farmers’ livelihood.

This year’s Gawad Saka awardee, Ricarte Corpuz, first learned of hybrid rice in 2002 through a Department of Agriculture (DA) hybrid rice program in Laoag City.          

Gawad Saka is a banner national program led by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and is awarded by the Office of the President.  Selection involves a rigorous screening by municipal, provincial, and regional government.    

Following a techno demo by SL Agritech Corporation , Corpuz saw for himself  the potential yield that hybrid rice could bring him.

In 2011, from his three-hectare farm planted mainly to hybrid rice, he attained a record harvest of more than 34 metric tons or 685 cavans (of 50 kilos each) of palay (paddy rice) per hectare. 

This came from three croppings – 240 cavans for the first crop, 245 cavans for the second, and 200 cavans for the third crop.  

Corpuz attests, “I have been a user of hybrid rice for nine years now. It increased my income by almost 30 percent compared to inbred rice.”

 SL Agritech Corp. chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong said SL-8H, since its release to the market in 2001, has provided a high yield to  many farmers, some even reaching close to 350 cavans per hectare.  

“We’re happy that a Gawad Saka awardee of the government has benefited from SL-8H seeds. Our aim is to help make the country attain not only self-sufficiency in rice, but become a net rice exporter too,” said Lim.  

Corpuz noted that an important advantage he gets from the use of SL-8H hybrid rice seeds is its tolerance to bacterial leaf blight.  

“Damage may reach 40 percent of the harvest (using conventional rice seeds). There’s no problem with BLB if I use SL-8,” he said.  

There are many government interventions that have been significant in helping raise farmers’ income based on Corpuz’s experience.

DA’s intensive training on technology like hybrid rice is just one of them. It is really one of the most important success factors in farming.  

A top assistance is from the Laoag City municipal government itself – the grant of two sacks of 7-14 fertilizer and two sacks of organic fertilizer.  

Another help is the National Food Authority’s (NFA) procurement program which enables farmers to sell rice at higher price by P1 per kilo compared to traders’ buying price given good quality palay.  

Corpuz transports the rice through his own truck or through commercial hauling services. Still, NFA’s price makes up for the hauling costs. Of his total harvest, 50 percent is sold through the NFA.