Quality,Seeds and Irrigation:Keys to Rice Self-sufficiency

With the country’s bid to be rice self sufficient by 2013, how should the government wisely allocate its resources.
The answer is in the paper “What are the sources of decade yield growth in the Philippine rice farming?” It identified the major drivers of yield growth, and these are use of quality seeds and irrigation, which the government should invest on to make the country rice selfsufficient by 2013.
Authored by Alice Mataia of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Nelissa Jamora and Piedad Moya of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and David Dawe of UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the paper was held as the Best Paper by the Federation of Crop Science Societies of the Philippines uring its recent Annual Scientific Conference in Silliman University.
Use of quality seeds and irrigation were found to have greatly contributed to yield growth for the past 10 years. This, Mataia said, is because the use of certified seeds and irrigation showed a “clear impact” on the income and productivity of Filipino farmers.
SEED QUALITYFor the past decade, close to 70 percent increase in area planted to certified seeds was observed. This means that more farmers enjoyed the 5 percent to 10 percent yield advantage of certified seeds, over farmers’ seeds as certified seeds passed the seed quality standards of the National Seed Quality Control Services and hence, farmers are confident that these would yield much higher.
Use of other high-quality seeds such as registered seeds and foundation seeds likewise increased.
It was also noted that the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) and the Hybrid Rice Commercialization programs significantly contributed to the increased use of quality seeds. One reason for this is the seed subsidies given to farmers under the GMA, making access to quality seeds possible.
However, it was also found in the study that while seeding rate decreased in general, the average seeding rate range of 83 kg!ha to 135 kg/ha is still far higher than the recommended seeding rate which is 20 kg/ha to 40 kg/ha. Mataia explained that the relatively high seeding rate may be due to the belief of farmers that more seeds translate to higher yield. Also, 20 percent of farmers reported they are practicing direct seeding, which results in more seeds used per hectare.
THE WATER FACTORExpanding irrigated areas is one key to increasing production. Studies show that irrigated areas have more than 1 ton yield advantage over rainfed areas.
The authors noted that for the last decade more than 145,000 irrigation systems were constructed and rehabilitated. Private irrigation systems such as indi : vidual water pumps, shallow tube wells, and small water impounding projects likewise grew to 174,000 ha.
It was also noted that the National Irrigation Administration’s investment on irrigation increased from P3 billion in 1998 to P9 billion in 2007. Bulk of the investment, the authors added, was due to the increasing rehabilitationprogram of major national irrigation systems. Irrigation efforts also resulted in 8 percent increase in irrigation areas from 1997 to 2007.
CHANGING FARMSCAPEBesides the impact of the quality of seeds and irrigation, the changing farmscape was documented also.
Over the years, there had been innumerable changes in the rice farm. One of these is the sharp decline in the use of insecticides in the field. Rice farmers must have been doing their share in protecting the environment, said Mataia. Another factor is the presence of environment-friendly alternatives.
Moreover, labor allocation changed although labor requirement remained the same. It was found out, too, that crop care activities received the highest labor allocation. Man-days required for land preparation, on the contrary, dropped owing to use of farm machines. she added.