Farmers urged to plant early this wet season – DA WV

To bolster rice production and prepare for the upcoming La Niña season, the Department of Agriculture (DA) Western Visayas has intensified its support for clustered farming communities. This initiative aims to optimize land preparation and ensure early crop establishment in anticipation of possible adverse weather conditions in the last quarter of the year.

Ester Ruth F. Torreverde, the Officer-in-Charge Chief of the DA Western Visayas Field Operations Division, recently convened with the cluster leaders and local agricultural offices of the Dawis Pototan Farmers Association in Iloilo, Duran Talauma Farmers’ Cooperative in Dumalag, and Dayhagon Farmer Cluster in Sigma, Capiz.

Dawis Pototan farmers group is also the project cooperator of the DA—Bureau of Soils and Water Management’s Balanced Fertilization Strategy, managing 100 hectares under this program. Farmer members are advised to utilize four-wheel-drive tractors to hasten the land preparation activity and the granule applicators from the DA for seed broadcasting, pesticide spraying, and fertilizer application.

Torreverde also posed a similar advisory to Duran Talauma Farmers Cooperative farmer leaders in Dumalag, Capiz, with 101-hectare clustered rice areas. The cooperative, which engages in two cropping cycles per year, has received floating tillers and hand tractors through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) and acts as a cooperator for the Community Hybrid Rice Demonstration Farm Project alongside Matuligma and Ilawod Irrigators’ Associations.

In Sigma, Capiz, farmers have adopted the Kabsaka technology or dry seeding technique, which has shown resilience against pests but poses challenges with weed management. Rice farmers in Sigma have low adoption of rice transplanting technology, citing the underutilization of riding-type transplanting machines, which can cover at least three hectares daily.

With a forecast of a moderate La Niña occurrence bringing potential flooding from October to December, the DA Western Visayas advises farmers to plant in June to ensure a harvest window from September to early October, ahead of the typhoon season.

“Our goal is to reduce the land preparation period and establish crops early to minimize risk and secure yields,” Torreverde explained.

She also stressed the need for synchronized planting to maximize resources and output and minimize the occurrence of pests and diseases.
Farmers are encouraged to adopt a clustering approach for the wet cropping season, leveraging mechanized transplanting to follow the recommended 15 kilograms per hectare seeding rate using hybrid varieties.

“By tapping into the assistance of private suppliers and utilizing our existing resources, we aim to expedite land preparation, allowing farmers to begin planting immediately,” said Torreverde.

The department has already started delivering and distributing hybrid seeds allotted for 61,746 hectares in Western Visayas under the Masagana Rice Industry Program. Farmers enrolled in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture will receive seeds, a P3,400.00 per hectare Fertilizer Discount Voucher, soil ameliorants, and biofertilizer.### Texts by SMHToreno & Photos by KDCaldina/DA-RAFIS 6