MANILA, 10 November 2007 — Who says planting rice is never fun? Not the farmer-members of the Bagong Buhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative Planting in Nueva Ecija province, who were chosen model farmers this year for a golden harvest using hybrid rice.

The farmers in the village of Mabini in Sto. Domingo town harvested an average of 180 cavans per hectare at 56 kilograms per cavan last month.

According to the Department of Agriculture, a cluster of more than 200 hectares of rice fields owned by the farmers were planted to hybrid rice for this year’s dry cropping season.

Jojo Garcia, chairman of the cluster, got an average yield of 200 cavans per hectare in his 12-hectare farm. The highest yield in the cluster was 246 cavans per hectare while the lowest was 173 cavans per hectare, still higher than what they would usually get from ordinary or inbred rice varieties.

Mabini barangay Chairman Sebastian Garcia, a member of the cluster, harvested 205 cavans, equivalent to 11.5 metric tons per hectare. If Garcia sells his fresh produce at P10.30 per kilogram, he would get a gross income of P118,244. Deducting the hybrid rice cost of production of P45,000 per hectare, he would enjoy a net income of P73,244. Farmers who grow ordinary rice usually net up to P25,000 per hectare only.

“When I was planting inbred rice varieties, I only get a net income of P10,000-P15,000 per hectare. But when I used hybrid rice in my seven-hectare farm, I got a net income of P50,000-P60,000 per hectare. I now live with my family in a beautiful house, and bought one unit of hand tractor, an owner-type jeep and a van from my hybrid rice earnings,” cooperative member Jose Rigor said.

With farmers forming clusters of at least 100 hectares, they get a consolidated and coordinated assistance from one another and from the government through the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (DA-GMA) Rice Program. The DA provides them adequate irrigation, postharvest facilities, farm-to-market roads, credit, and marketing assistance, according to Director Frisco Malabanan.

“The main advantage of the clustering approach is the convergence of all the production support services to the farmers. This contributed to the attainment of enhancing productivity by the farmers and ensuring profitability, which is the main objective of Agriculture Secretary Yap’s programs,” said Malabanan,

The 52-member cooperative has a savings deposit of around P230,000, which the cooperative used in buying a 4,000-square-meter land. The land will be the site of drying facilities that will be constructed soon by the National Food Authority.

Farmer-members are in the process of selecting the appropriate hybrid rice varieties that they will plant for this year’s wet cropping season.