AGGIE UPDATE

‘Quick turnaround’ increases palay yield by 50% in Santiago

SANTIAGO CITY — A rice-planting program, dubbed "Quick Turnaround" (QTA) and launched last May in this city, has proven successful despite the unexpected weather aberrations in the region.

Santiago City Agriculture Officer Solomon Maylem said that QTA was designed to allow farmers to plant in mid-summer and harvest by early September. This enables them to plant again in early October and harvest by January for the second-cropping season.

"Normally, there are only two rice-cropping seasons in Isabela, but because of the irrigation water provided by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in the province, including Santiago City, we are qualified to join the ‘singit’ (insert) rice cropping program of the national government," Maylem said.

Because of the extended planting calendar, the continuity of rice cropping does not allow wide gaps between harvest time and planting time.

The extra cropping season in between the regular cropping seasons has shortened the period for the dormancy of the seed stocks and literally adds 50 percent more yield to to the regular yearly production.

"As a result, we are now coming up with two more cropping periods until next summer to complete a one-year calendar for three copping seasons. Meaning if one was used to harvest 240 cavans of palay per hectare a year, a minimum of 90 cavans harvested during the "singit" season is added to the production of the two regular cropping periods, resulting in total harvest of some 330 cavans per hectare a year," Maylem said.

Asked why only 90 cavans are expected from the "singit" cropping, Maylem said the reduced yield is due to the short daylight during the ‘ber’ months.

"The absence of full-day sunshine reduces the prolificacy of rice pinnacles to full range, so we cannot expect the same output as those during the regular cropping seasons when there is abundant sunshine," he said.

Of the 7,700 hectares of irrigated rice lands in the city, 5,000 hectares were qualified for the QTA program launched last summer. But due to some reasons only 3,800 hectares were covered and subsidized by both the national government through the agriculture department and the city government.

"Those who planted pure breed or foundation seeds got R1,500 subsidy per bag (good for one hectare) from the national government, while those who planted certified seeds got R760 subsidy per bag from the city government, plus free organic and foliar fertilizers to all farmers who availed themselves of the program," said Santiago Mayor Amelita Sison-Navarro. -- CP