Ilocos farmer harvests 285+ cavans/hectare

An Ilocano farmer harvested 14.3 metric tons of palay per hectare – in the dry season – using the SL-8H rice variety developed by SL Agritech Corp., the country’s leading hybrid rice producer.

George Pasion, Jr. and his father from Barangay San Marcos, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, were among the first farmers in the province to use the hybrid rice variety, which enabled them to have all-year round cropping.

The hot weather condition in Ilocos, with high temperatures from March to June, proved ideal for Pasion to try planting the supposedly weather-resilient SL-8H.

Pasion had been harvesting more than 200 cavans per hectare since 2003, prompting him to try planting this variety.

“Sumubok ako ng ibang hybrids, pero hindi kasing ganda ng ani sa SL-8H,” Pasion said.

He reported harvesting last April 285.6 cavans or 14.3 MT/ha of rice. The SL-8H (NSIC Rc-132H) seeds were given to him by the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 1, under the government’s Rice Resiliency Program.

The SL-8H grains, Pasion noted, are noticeably whole, not cracked or granulated compared to other hybrid varieties. Using this quality of grain will prove profitable for farmers.

According to Pasion, the yield from SL-8H is more than double sometimes even triple than the usual inbred varieties of palay. He wants other farmers to shift to this variety that already earned him a regular income of P200,000 during dry season.

Pasion’s farming efforts enabled his eldest child to graduate from college and support the studies of his other children.

He continues to plant during the wet season, this time taking a risk by using another variety of SL, the SL-20H which is said to be an all-weather variety and highly resilient during the wet season. Pasion is eager and hopes his yield will also double or triple using SL-20H.