DA pursues organic farming of upland rice in Bicol

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pursuing the development of organic farming of upland rice in the province of Bicol.

The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) said P6 million is  being allotted for the two-and-a-half year project which would use  drought-tolerant native rice varieties in the province.

The organic rice farming project in Bicol aims to increase the province’s contribution to the country’s rice output.

The province once contributed 20 percent to the country’s annual  paddy rice  production.

According the BAR findings, Bicol’s upland varieties  outperform some modern rice varieties because of higher yield and drought tolerance.

Upland rice varieties generally have an average yield of only one to two metric tons (MT) per hectare, but the selected Bicol varieties could exceed such yield average.

In the 1960s, a total of 63,699  hectares of upland areas in Bicol actively produced rice.

The productive upland rice area dropped to 53,480 hectares in the 1970s. BAR said all of these lands could be revived.

“Our development of upland rice is very timely as these varieties have the potential to withstand higher temperature and less water supply which is what we really need amid the threatening climate change,” said BAR director Nicomedes P. Eleazar.

The project is focused on popularizing upland organic farming, specifically in the river basin towns of Baao and Nabua in Camarines Sur. 

The profitability target is 20 percent above prevailing income in the covered uplands.

Allocated BAR funding is P4.998 million, while a separate counterpart funding of P1 million would be provided by stakeholders.

“Some upland rice cultivars in Bicol such as Palawan, Gayang-gang white, Kinarabao, and Magdami were found to have higher grain yield than PSB Rc9 (check variety),” according to the Bicolandia Greenfields Development Organization Inc. (Bigfis), project partner.

The tallest upland rice strain evaluated was Sinalapi with 113 centimeter (cm) height. The rice plant with the longest panicle was recorded with Palawan white with 73.88 cm.

Other notable rice cultivars are Bursege, Bolibod Red, and Gios which have the highest number of productive tillers – 15.53, 12.93, and 12.87 tillers.

“The upland rice strain with the heaviest 100-seed weight was recorded with Kabring with 3.8 grams. This was followed by Kinalansing with 3.6 grams. Palawan Red had the highest number of grains per panicle followed by Gayang-gang, Palawan white, and Magdami with 226, 221, and 188 grains per panicle,” said Bigfis.

Also part of the project is intercropping of upland rice varieties with vegetables or legumes.

“The intercrops will act as live mulch in between the rows of upland rice.  This will prevent weed infestation in the plantation.  Expenses for labor on weeding can also be saved by adapting technology,” said Bigfis.

Eyed for intercropping with rice are peanuts. A study showed that the return on investment (ROI) of a mixture of one row of upland rice plus two rows of peanut was 34.64 percent, better than sole rice cropping.

Other potential intercrops with rice are bush sitao, corn, mungbean, soybeans, tomato, eggplant, leafy vegetables, and okra.

BAR said the use of chicken manure as organic fertilizer for upland rice has been proven to have the highest ROI with 53.38 percent especially when compared to commercial organic fertilizer.

Bigfis said that a study of upland rice chicken manure fertilization with peanut intercrop generated a net income of P29,589 per hectare.

This is much higher than the P12,838 per hectare net income from the same crops with inorganic fertilizer.

Biodegradable wastes like rice husks are being turned into compost fertilizer through a production facility.