Agriculture Business Week

Many farmers believe that it is costly to plant on time. It’s because the cost of labor increases due to labor shortage caused by the high demand for farm work. So they tend to plant early or late to save on labor. But are they really saving money with this practice? No.

A PhilRice Study in 2008 showed that not practicing synchronous planting or planting on time, which is the third key check of the PalayCheck System, results in a yield as low as 4.3 tons per hectare (t/ha). This is due to pest infestation, which the occurrence of can be limited by following this key check.

According to Dr. Rolando Cruz, leader of the PalayCheck System project and a scientist at PhilRice, planting on time does not only help farmers achieve key check 3 but also key check 7, which underscores pest management. And because synchronous planting limits the occurrence of pests, he adds, it also reduces the expenses on pesticides as well as the labor that goes with it.

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More and more farmers are getting interested in the PalayCheck System as they learn that the yields of the innovators have increased by following the eight key checks, which revolve on seed quality, land preparation, crop establishment, pest management, and harvest management.

Rice specialists trained by PhilRice on the PalayCheck system are now on the double training an increasing number of farmers. Research results of PhilRice specialists show that the more key checks farmers attain, the higher their yields become.

For the benefit of those who are not participating in a PalayCheck Field School (PFS), learning about the eight key checks could be of help. They are as follows:

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