PILI, Camarines Sur—The Department of Agriculture (DA) Bicol regional field unit (RFU) here has launched the Palay Check Farmers Field School (FFS) program in time for the wet-planting season in some areas of Camarines Sur.

The training program aims to equip rice farmers in the region with the technology in using certified and hybrid-palay seeds as planting material to further increase local rice production, DA regional executive director Jose Dayao said on Thursday.

The region still needs to increase its production even as it registered the highest growth rate in palay yield compared with other regions in the country during the first semester of this year, Dayao said, referring to the latest report of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).

In the BAS report, Bicol posted a 17.3-percent palay-production growth rate compared with the first semester of last year, the highest among the rice-producing regions.

Camarines Sur, a consistent surplus-rice producer, stood out among the provinces of Bicol in terms of volume in palay production, which is an immense factor in the region’s No. 1 ranking during the period, the BAS report said.

Ilocos region ranked second with a 13.08-percent growth rate for the same period, followed by Central Luzon, which registered a 9.23-percent net production growth.

The BAS report attributes the remarkable performance of Bicol to the use of hybrid-palay seeds by most farmers and the additional use of inputs and better irrigation system, Dayao said.

A hybrid-rice variety, also referred to as F1, is the direct product of crossing two genetically different parents. In hybrids, the positive qualities of both parents are combined, resulting in a phenomenon called “hybrid vigor” or “heterosis.”

These factors result in yields higher than those of ordinary rice by 15 percent and, with proper management, farmers can harvest up to 240 cavans per hectare per season, or 12 tons per hectare per year, Dayao explained.

The entire Bicol region had a total of about 291,000 hectares of land devoted to rice that contribute almost a million metric tons of the staple food to the country’s overall production per year.

Most of these areas, however, are still using the ordinary rice variety and certainly, when the DA is able to expand further the coverage of the hybrid varieties in the region, Dayao said, “we expect more production.”

The FFS program, he said, includes pests and disease prevention, and fertilizer and water management that would contribute immensely to a more efficient and improved growth to attain high yield.

It focuses on technology transfer through a combination of lectures and actual field demonstrations on what have been previously discussed in the classroom.

Among the components of the program is the application of new technologies developed by DA to increase rice production.

The program is a three-month training session for each batch of farmers that include 16 sessions, starting from planting until the time that the palay would be ready to be harvested.

Initial batches were participated in by farmers in selected barangays of Bula, Nabua, Ocampo, Minalabac, Libmanan, Pili, Canaman, Tigaon and Calabanga towns, all in Camarines Sur. The first batch of farmers from the municipality Bula will be graduating this month.

DA-RFU Bicol has provided free training materials to the participants and incentives to agricultural technicians who conduct the training sessions, Dayao added.

Gov. LRay Villafuerte said the training program is a much-needed support in the local agricultural sector, being one of the priority programs of both the national and provincial administrations to ensure food security and agricultural development.

Meanwhile, some 350 sacks of open pollinated variety (OPV) of yellow-corn seeds have been allocated to 12 clustered municipalities and two cities of Camarines Sur in line with the provincial government’s thrust to establish new corn-production areas in the province.

According to Villafuerte, the allocation of the OPV corn seeds is carried out under the GMA corn program.

Corn seeds of the high-yield variety from Isabela province will be distributed for free to local corn farmers of the clustered municipalities and cities, he said.

The project is a segment of a comprehensive program launched by the provincial government, underscoring agricultural productivity that will ensure sufficient food supply, especially among residents in far-flung areas.

Corn is also extensively used in feed preparations for livestock in the province, the governor added.