DA to push ratooning, use of inbred rice seeds

The  Department of Agriculture is  encouraging farmers to plant a third crop utilizing either ratooning or inbred rice seeds to compensate for palay lost in the recent super typhoons, 

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said among the measures in the  rice  industry  roadmap are ramping up crop intensity, promoting ratooning and encouraging farmers to plant a third crop.

Laurel said he rice industry roadmap will  be released by yearend. 

The International Rice Research Institute said ratoon rice is produced from the second crop growing from the stubble after harvesting the main crop. 

“It can be ratooning or the use of inbred (seeds) for the third cropping (to increase output),” Laurel told the BusinessMirror. 

Former University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA) Executive Director Senen Reyes said the success of the PRIR will largely depend on government support. 

“A roadmap is not an assurance of an industry’s success. There are 20 roadmaps in the DA website whose impact needs to be evaluated,” Reyes said.

“How crucial would it be will depend on the sustainable funding and support of the [government] as enabler. It should be a roadmap that is stakeholder crafted, industry owned and implemented.”

Under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the government and stakeholders were mandated to formulate and adopt a roadmap to raise the output of the staple. 

Among the principles that should govern its development and implementation include strengthening research and development programs, addressing the impact of income loss caused by rice tariffication, and improving productivity and profitability of small rice farmers and landless farmworkers. 

Laurel earlier issued Special Order (SO) 1463, which tapped various government agencies, the academe, and the private sector for the reconstructed technical writing team that would finalize the PRIR. 

Under SO 1463, the team would have to settle on the overarching goals and objectives to guide the drafting of the PRIR enhancements and improvements and assess the existing draft document to identify any gaps and areas requiring refinement. 

They would also collaborate with the National Rice Program (NRP) to arrange activities and establish timelines for finalizing the PRIR.

The writing team was spearheaded by Hazel Tanchuling of Rice Watch Action Network who is also the chairperson of Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries’ National Sectoral Committee on Rice and Other Food Staples.