Agriculture Business Week

Aurora rice farmers claim that the wet and very wet climate in their province is the cause of their low yields. They say that a yield of 100 bags a hectare is already high and that they would make some money from it already. Unfortunately, not so many farmers get this yield level.

What we saw in Aurora last February, however, tells us that their problems do not stem from the wet and very wet climate, meaning well distributed rainfall throughout the year. It is asynchronous planting that has created all their woes. At any time of the year, there are rice plants at different stages of crop growth and development in any community, and this allows rats, insect pests, and diseases to multiply all year round. No amount of rat baiting will control rats as there are existing rice plants that serve as sources of food for them. For this reason, no community-wide rat campaign would succeed with asynchronous planting.

Hand in hand with rat multiplication would be the overlapping cycle of insect pests and diseases, and all of these contribute to low yields. In other words, no farmer would succeed with integrated pest management (IPM) as pests from other fields could also possibly attack his crop.

The recommended water management practices can not also be followed because water is flowing in the irrigation canals most of the time. It would be difficult to drain a field several days before harvest if water is present in the irrigation canal as other farmers in a lower end may need to irrigate their fields.

The climate in Aurora is very much like in the Caraga Region, but there are many Caraga farmers who harvest much more than 100 bags/ha all because synchronous planting is practiced. With synchronous planting, farmers in a cluster or community plant rice almost at the same time in one month. At least one month between crops is devoted as fallow period (meaning the land is not touched within one month as a rest period) before land preparation begins.

With synchronous planting, rice farmers are able to break the pest and disease cycle during the fallow and land preparation periods if all of them cooperate with each other. This is especially important for rat control by not allowing vegetation to exist in the fields and surrounding areas where the rats can hide and reproduce. Farmers may follow the example of Zaragoza farmers in their “Bo Boo Rat Campaign.” During the fallow period, they tried to kill all rats within their community. They dug all burrows, used flame throwers to drive the rats from their burrows, used sticks and bolos to kill them, and prizes were given to the groups with the highest catch.

We have met and interviewed a good number of farmers in Caraga, and their rice yields are outstanding. One of them is Libertador “Tata” Tabada. At different periods, his rice harvests were way above 100 bags/ha as follows: SL 8H, 140 bags/ha; Bigante, 120 bags/ha; PJ7, 130 bags/ha; LP0353, 178 bags/ha; LP0330, 168 bags/ha; and LP0345, 176 bags/ha.

In Jabonga, Agusan del Norte, Apolinario “Enar” Orilla harvested 130 bags/ha in 1983 when he started farming at 23 years old. He was the 2006 Gawad Saka awardee for integrated rice farming in the Caraga region. He was also able to harvest 140 bags/ha of IR64. Normally, his average yields are 150 bags/ha in the first crop (wet season) and 120 bags/ha in the second crop (very wet season).

I would venture to say that no amount of aggressive technology introduction would enable farmers to obtain high yields if they continue to practice asynchronous planting.

Many of the Aurora farmers I interviewed in Baler, San Luis, Dipaculao and Maria Aurora towns said synchronous planting is impossible with their wet and very wet climate. I beg to disagree with them as Caraga farmers are practicing synchronous planting. What’s more, farmers in Barangay Ramada, Maria Aurora have been following synchronous planting for three years already, according to barangay captain Rolando “Rudy” Mintac.

It only needs strong political will to wield community cooperation and determination. Rudy said it took the barangay council to get the community members to agree and practice synchronous planting. I would add that with a strong push by local government officials with the mayor at the helm, barangay leaders would be able to convince the farmers in their respective communities to practice synchronous planting.