Agriculture Business Week

He had been an elementary and high school teacher for 39 years. And now, after retiring, 61-year-old Rolando A. Sa-Unoy of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo is a student again. But this time in rice farming.

Sa-Onoy loves teaching, but farming is his first love. At six, he started farming with his father. He took up education because there was no agriculture-related course in Iloilo that time. But his interest in’ farming never ceased even while he was teaching that’s why when he had the chance, he borrowed money to buy farmland.

He used to visit his 4-hectare ricefield every morning before going to school to see to it that everything was fine, for he wanted to ensure a good yield. His efforts, however, were not enough for his harvests were not good.

BACK TO SCHOOL.
Anxious about what went wrong, Sa-Onoy realized that his deep interest in rice farming is not enough; he had much more to learn about rice cultivation.

In November 2006, he and 15 farmers attended a farmer field school (FFS) in PalayCheck the latest farming system of the Philippine Rice Institute (PhilRice) being promoted throughout the country. It’s a dynamic rice crop management system that presents the best key technology and management practices as key checks.

In the FFS, farmers learn through discussion groups wherein ways to sustain productivity, profitability, and environment safety are shared. In such way, it compares the practices of farmers with the best farm practices.

However, Sa-Onoy had a hard time achieving all key checks. He was particularly worried about the synchronous planting key because farmers in Iloilo used to plant asynchronously, which resulted in low yield due to pest incidence. Good thing he was able to convince the owners of the lands near his farm to plant synchronously.

“It was hard to get a perfect score but I made it sure that I achieve all the eight key checks from seed selection to harvesting,” Sa-Onoy said.

BETTER FARMING WITH PALAYCHECK
From 80 cavans per hectare (cav/ha), Sa-Onoy’s yield increased to as high as 134 cav/ha, which is equivalent to 68 percentincrease.

“In fact, because of PalayCheck, [he has afforded the construction of a bigger storage room where he can stock tons of rice,” said Neneng Sodusta, PalayCheck coordinator from Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center.

He also increased his savings by as much as P10,000 per hectare because he was able to minimize pesticide and herbicide applications.

“Before, I used to spray pesticides every day …By changing that alone, I have saved a lot of money and labor,” Sa-Onoy said.

“I have learned a lot from PalayCheck. But what I appreciate most is the synchronous planting key, which helped me and my fellow farmers save money and prevent rice pests and diseases,” he added.

Another lesson he learned is that instead of burning rice straw, he should let it decompose because it’s a source of additional nutrients. Water management is another thing; because of it, he was able to minimize the incidence of weeds and golden apple snails in his farm.

“Before, to save labor, I pump too much water to increase the interval of pumping not knowing that it stresses the plants,” he said.

TEACHING PALAYCHECK
After graduating from the FFS, SaOnoy started teaching again. But this time, he’s teaching PalayCheck.

To date, he has shared his knowledge to more than 20 farmers, and all of them are grateful for what he taught them because if not for it, they wouldn’t be able to increase their yields and savings.

“They followed my advice because they respect me as a teacher,” he said.

But to him, there’s something else besides sharing what he has learned in the FFS. And that’s the fact that by teaching farming, he is able to combine the profession he practiced for decades and the one he truly loves, farming.