Agriculture Business Week

Pest Infestation, if not properly managed, could lead up to 30 percent loss in potential yield, according to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

In line with this, in a study conducted at PhilRice in Agusan where the climate is either wet or very wet, a group of researchers led by agronomist Frencisco Varquez found that damage from pest results in a yield as low as 4.3 tons per hectare in an area where a highest yield of 7 tons per hectare can be achieved.

In this experiment titled “Targeting On-Farm Rice Yield for Site-Specific Nutrient Management Using the PalayCheck Minus-One Key Check,” the researchers allowed the infestation to get severe to determine the level of yield loss when no pest management practice is exercised.

They did not practice key check 7 of the PalayCheck, an integrated rice crop management, system. This key check underscores integrated pest management (IPM) as well as the importance of awareness on the interaction of rice crop with abiotic factors in the environment in understanding the destructive potential of pests and in managing these. Hence, the result of the study shows that identification and application of appropriate IPM practices is essential in producing a high yield.

One significant part of the IPM is the identification and conservation of beneficial organisms in the field. Beneficial insects prey upon the harmful ones and thus, help in controlling the infestation.

“We advise knowing the beneficial organisms in the field and determining their capability to outnumber the harmful ones. If capable, then let them fight the natural way,” Varquez said.

Choosing rice varieties resistant to prevalent pests in the area and practicing synchronous planting are also very helpful in preventing pest attacks. Moreover, rice experts say that since rice plant can compensate for early season damage, it is strongly discouraged to spray pesticide in the first 30 days after transplanting or at 40 days after sowing.

INCREASE YIELD WITH PALAYCHECK
Despite the wet climate in Agusan Del Norte, farmers Trinidad Billote and Lucia Viray have managed to follow all the key checks.

Being a farmer-partner of the PhilRice-JICA Technical Cooperation Project 3 that promotes PalayCheck, 48-year-old Billote of Tagabaca town allotted half of her 2-hectare ricefield as a technology demonstration farm for the project. And she is glad that she has done so because with PalayCheck, she has significantly increased her yield. Thus, she has practiced it also to the other half of her farm.

“I have no regret for following the PalayCheck technology because with it I harvested 6.7 tons per hectare, whereas before I used to harvest only 3.8 tons per hectare,” Billote said.

Sixty-two-year-old Viray, on one hand, has been tagged as one of the best PalayCheck farmer in Cabadbaran town for increasing an average yield of 4 tons per hectare to 6.4 tons per hectare.

“I noted all the key checks and kept reading materials on PalayCheck to make sure I would be able to follow every step the right way,” Viray said, adding that she is particularly observant of the nutrient and pest management although she knows that all the key checks are equally important.

With her success, her neighbor Milagros Ruyan is encouraged to carefully follow all the key checks as she failed to follow key check 7 in the first season and thus, her yield was only 3.9 tons per hectare.

“I know I could harvest more so I will try my best next time,” Ruyan said.

Other farmers in Agusan think the same about following PalayCheck. By learning of the significant yield increase achieved with this rice crop management system, they are assured that pest infestation would never be severe again.

By Myriam Garcia-Layaoen