Peace, new rice breed bring hope to Maguindanao farmers

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Samad, a 43-year-old Moro farmer in Datu Saudi town, is optimistic he can recover in the next two harvest seasons  the losses that he incurred from armed conflicts that thrice devastated their village in recent months if the peace now in their municipality continues.

“With the tranquility we now enjoy, government interventions intended to alleviate us from underdevelopment can take off without any disruption,” Samad said in the Maguindanaon dialect.

All of the barangays in Datu Saudi, a rice-producing town in the second district of Maguindanao, were badly affected by incursions by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in 2011 and in ugust to September in 2012.

Makmod Mending Jr., regional agriculture secretary of the Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao, led over the weekend the first ever “rice harvest festival” in Datu Saudi to showcase how local officials and the ARMM are cooperating in restoring normalcy in conflict-stricken rice-producing areas in the province.

The festival was also graced by Datu Saudi Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom, Abdulrashid Ladayo of the ARMM’s Cooperative Development Authority, and representatives from the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Mending said Mangudadatu’s office has been helping rebuild farming communities in the province through his free orchard, oil palm, and rubber tree seedling dispersal project, which started as early as 2010, during his first term as provincial governor.

“Our latest projects in Maguindanao and other ARMM provinces are parallel with the development roadmap being pursued by the governor of the autonomous region, Mujiv Hataman, which involves Moro farmers and the local government units,” Mending said.

The rice harvest festival in Datu Saudi  sought to highlight the successful introduction into the area of high-yield rice varieties recommended by the central office of the Department of Agriculture.

“If our farmers will continue to propagate these rice varieties, we are sure to have a considerable volume of rice surplus in Maguindanao in the coming months,” Mending said.

The rice farms in Datu Saudi that were planted to high-yield varieties amazingly had an average  9.6-ton harvest per hectare, higher by almost two tons compared to previous harvests.

The massive introduction to the region's rice-producing areas of high-yield rice varieties by the Hataman administration is in line with  the national government’s Food Staple Sufficiency Program, according to Mending.

A Moro farmer, Guiamat, 37, who had tried the new rice varieties, said he had harvested 9.5 tons of grains from each hectare of his farm.

Guiamat's neighbor, Katutang, who is also a rice farmer,  said he had produced 10.1 tons of grains from every hectare of his rice farm.