MINDA EXPANDS EXPERIMENT ON IRRIGATED UPLAND RICE FARM

The Mindanao Development Authority advocacy to address rural poverty and improve food production explores the potentials of upland rice farming as it establishes 10 demo areas using Israel’s pressurized irrigation and fertigation technology.

With just a measly budget of P500,000 taken from its very limited funds, MinDA will work with Local Government Units, the Philippine Rice Research Institute and a private rice seeds company, US Seedworks for the project. Using the Israeli technology on Pressurized Irrigation and Fertigation, MinDA will introduce modern Upland Rice Farming using Hybrid Seeds and the indigenous upland rice varieties. The demonstration farms will be about 1,000 square meters each and will be established in the traditional rice farming areas of Cenrtral Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Caraga, Zamboanga Region and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Each of the demonstration farm will have a Pressurized Irrigation and Fertigation Facility which will provide water and fertilization in a scientifically progammed schedule.

Asst. Secretary for the BARMM Dr. Sailila Abdula, former executive director of PhilRice and now head of the Midsayap Field Office, will lead the technical team which will supervise the demonstration farms.

The estimated yield, cost and income will also be included in the study to be conducted by both PhilRice and the MinDA technical team.

US Seedworks whose hybrid upland rice seeds, Tatag TH 82, had been selected to be used in the demo farm had committed its full support to the project by donating seeds and inputs.

It will also sponsor the installation of one unit of Pressurized Irrigation and Fertigation in one of the demonstration areas.

demonstration farms will start towards the end of July and early August when the traditional upland rice farms had been harvested.

MinDA aims to establish in this project that with modern upland hybrid rice seeds and pressurized irrigation and fertigation, traditional upland rice farmers could plant a second crop.

This program is something that I thought of even when I was still Secretary of Agriculture but it never took off when I resigned two years ago.

Recently, after participating in the International Webinar on Pressurized Irrigation and Fertigation in Tropical Regions conducted by Israel’s Mashav for 16 countries, I decided to start a small demo area in my farm in Kidapawan City.

While I funded the demo farm myself, I asked PhilRice and MinDA to help document the progress of the project.

Later, US Seedworks which produces TH 82 volunteered to help knowing of the marketing potentials for their products should the project prove successful.

Traditional upland rice farming in Mindanao starts February to March in time with the rainy season and the harvest of upland rice varieties like Dinorado and Hinumay is done June to July.

Since upland rice farming is dependent on rains and indigenous rice varieties are used, the yield is a maximum 2 to 2.5-metric tons per hectare.

US Seedworks’ Tatag TH 82 which had been field tested in dry seeding in Central Mindanao when I was Secretary of Agriculture had recorded harvests of up to 10-metric tons per hectare. In the off-season Upland Rice Farming Demonstration to be conducted by MinDA, TH 82 will be planted side by side with the indigenous rice varieties for a comparative study.

With vast upland areas which are largely unutilized, especially in the Indigenous People’s Ancestral Domains, MinDA believes that modern upland rice farming could provide food security and income for Mindanao’s poor rural farming families. (MinDA)

NATIONAL NEWS