Palay rationing to boost RP rice industry — Braganza

"It’s manna from heaven!"

Thus said farmer-beneficiary Pedro Marcelo of an improved version of a farming technology in rice production called "rolodge ratooning," which the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is promoting to enhance farm productivity at lesser cost.

Marcelo found this out when he tried the technology on his one-and-a-half-hectare farm in Barangay Talampas in Bustos, Bulacan. After only 70 days, his farm yielded 60 sacks of palay, half the average yield of new crops pegged at 95 sacks per hectare. More interestingly, his gains came at a time when his farm was supposed to be idle.

"To see my farm producing at a time when it was supposed to be idle was very encouraging. It means extra food and income for my family," Marcelo said. "Normally, after harvest season in March, farmers here left their farms idle for the next three months. Planting season usually begins in July when the rainy season comes," he added.

Marcelo stressed that the technology is "pro-farmers" because of the lesser cost involved. He said he spent only P4,000 for fertilizer and pesticide, P10,000 less than the regular production cost for new crops.

Ratooning is a natural phenomenon in grass family (graminae). When cut and exposed to appropriate environment, it will develop new sprouts, with characteristic equal to its original form and capacities.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Brangaza said the new technology helps lessen palay production cost from P4.94 a kilo to P1.98 a kilo, and increase farmers’ income by at least P5,000 a month for an expected income range of P34,000 to P62,000 annually.

It also allows them to harvest much earlier because it takes only 70-75 days before harvest time. New crops take an average of 110 days, he added.

"Rolodge ratooning would surely be a big boost to the Philippines’ rice industry. It has been proven to be dependable in addressing food security," Braganza said during the harvest festival he attended along with Bustos Mayor Carlito Reyes and local officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

"We tested it first in Gerona, Tarlac and it worked. We again tried it here in Bulacan and the result was very encouraging," he added.

Braganza said the Bustos experience was very inspiring because it exemplified the spirit of "bayanihan," the battlecry of DAR, when Reyes and NIA engineer Marcelino Santos voluntarily offered their resources to ensure the project’s success.

Reyes installed two deep wells and the NIA provided the surface water pump facilities to draw water into the field, following the deactivation of the Angat Dam, then undergoing rehabilitation. The NIA also made some remedial measure to divert some water into the field upon learning that the water drawn from deep wells was insufficient.

"What more can we ask for? The whole effort complements the Bayan-Anihan framework of DAR. Bayan means people working together for a common cause, and Anihan good harvest," Braganza said.

Reyes said he is impressed with the ratooning technology, saying: "It will help farmers attain self-sufficiency because of the bonus harvest at very minimal cost."

"There was no doubt in our minds that the project would succeed. That’s why we offered our resources for free. Maybe, next time, when the farmers start gaining sufficiently with the new technology we can start collecting service fee," Santos said.