Why Synchronous Planting Must be Practiced
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.
This is one important fact that Bernardo Ballesteros of Diffun, Quirino should have known earlier. A participant of the PalayCheck field school conducted in Diffun in 2006 dry season, Ballesteros never thought that by just missing key check 3 his yield would drop to as low as 2.4 t/ha.
Key check 3 requires that a field must be planted either within two weeks before or after the majority of the fields in the irrigation service area had been planted. Unfortunately for Ballesteros, “he planted 25 days late because -he got his seeds late and was short of money for land preparation and transplanting,” said Alfredo Esquibal, agricultural technologist of Luttuad, Diffun.
“Other farmers have plowed under weeds and stubbles, which was 50 percent higher are potential hosts of pests and diseases, but he has not done so,” Esquibal added. “Thus, the pests bred in his field.”
Having realized how important it is to practice synchronous planting, Ballesteros has promised himself that this is the last time it would happen, and it seems that he’s right. With his determination to achieve all the key checks, he harvested 5 t/ha the following year despite missing key check 7.
Ballesteros’ neighbor Samuel Osoteo, on one hand, is very glad that he has followed all the key checks. He also kept a fallow period of at least a month before planting his field that broke the pest cycle and destroyed disease hosts. Hence, he harvested 8.2 t/ha that same season, which was 50 percent higher than his usual yield.
But like Ballesteros, Osoteo has also experienced harvesting as low as 70 cavans/ha due to pests and diseases. “I have been, for many times, a victim of disease and pest infestations like stemborers. That is why I will always make sure now that I achieve key check 3,” Osoteo said. “Savings on pesticides and the prevention of harvest losses are the real reasons why I encourage farmers to plant synchronously.”
“Farmers who got all the key checks, of course, beat Ballesteros who was short of money for pest management,” explains Esquibal. “What’s good about him is that he has doubled his previous yield, and this made him truly appreciate synchronous planting.”
By Hazel V. Antonio
Popularity: 4%
Popularity: 4%
