Farmers unite for rice genetics, seed-banks
PLAYING the advantage of attaining a record breaking sufficiency levels after decades of rice farming, local authorities hope to sustain the momentum and organizing all rice breeders for both hybrid and certified seeds come next, says Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog.
Now wanting to take a better grip at the adopted technological edge, she said an organized group sharing each other’s successes and failures can result to even better harvests for Bohol in the future.
On this, at the 2009 Sandugo Agri Fair, Quirog said they have deliberately scheduled rice genetics and seed banking forum to exactly keep the farmers in the loop on the developments and motivate them to enhance local rice into high yielding varieties.
In tandem with a Mindanao certified seed grower cooperative, the Department of Agriculture and its local counterpart along with Sangguniang Panlalawigan Agriculture Committee Chair Vice Gov, Julius Caesar Herrera would attempt to mold and streamline a local organization to keep track of and facilitate the exchange of technologies among town-based farmers.
With the aggressive campaign to make Bohol rice sufficient, the DA through the Agricultural Promotion Center and the local leaders pushed for more support through inputs and fertilizers which farmers can avail at low subsidized costs.
Coupled with the abrupt shift to high yielding varieties, farmers achieved flying productivity marks, one most growers are willing to duplicate if not top, this time while demanding for better seeds.
The development has also placed most local seed growers into experimenting on varieties that they can grow and keep for the future planting season.
In Bohol, we can assure that local growers can now supply the need for certified seeds but keeping the high seed standards can be enhanced when these people work together, Quirog reasons for the plan to pool these people together.
APC’s Eng. Eugene Cahiles has always insisted that going for the shift to hybrid and certified seeds alone would change Bohol’s productivity positioning despite the sad fact that vast ricelands here are a rarity.
Agriculturist Quirog added that the aggressive campaign to momentarily shift to hybrid rice and then later grow certified rice has tilted the balance and earned for Bohol respectable position in the region topping rice production sufficiency at 113%.
Ad as soon as farmers saw the difference in productivity, many have opted to go for hone-grown certified seeds at least now that they know such are available with the help of an NGO: the South East Asian Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment, she said. (PIA)
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