For him, life won't be the same without a farm visit

STO. DOMINGO, Nueva Ecija ,Philippines  – Dr. Frisco Malabanan was engaged in hybrid rice farming even when he was still the national director of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture. For him, life would not be the same without going to his rice farm even only on weekends.

A holder of a doctorate degree in Philosophy (PhD), Dr. Malabanan recalled that when the GMA rice program was launched in 2001, he mortgaged his two-hectare irrigated rice farm in Barangay Mabini near the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and he planted it with hybrid rice.

“Two young farmers in our barangay also planted the same variety and the three of us became the laughing stock in the community.”

“Jojo Garcia, one of the two farmers, took care of my farm while I attended to my official functions as national coordinator of the GMA rice program. In between my busy schedules, I would send text messages to him to do or check on certain things. Sometimes during weekends, umuuwi ako sa Mabini to make sure that every operation in my farm is done to ensure a bountiful harvest.”

Looking back, he recalled that his first harvest in his two-hectare farm was 140 cavans per hectare or seven tons per hectare that season. “It increased to 186 cavans a hectare the following season and it continued to increase season after season until it reached 246 cavans (12.30) MT per hectare in the 2005 dry season crop. In no time at all, the demand for hybrid rice, specifically the SL-8H hybrid rice seed variety, snowballed practically in every town in Nueva Ecija.”

According to Dr. Malabanan, he has at present four hectares planted to hybrid rice. “Natubos na ng mga nagsangla ng lupa ang halos anim na ektarya. Nakita nilang maganda ang ani at kita sa hybrid rice.

But more than everything else, he said, “napagtapos ko na ang dalawa kong anak at malapit ng matapos ang bunso. Yung eldest son ko ay B.S. in Agriculture and my daughter is taking up her Masters Degree in Molecular Biology. My youngest son is in his senior year in Veterinary Medicine. Lahat sila sa UP Los Banos nag-aaral.”

In an interview at the SL Agritech Corp. office in Makati City where he is the technical consultant, he said hybrid rice farming “is indeed profitable and viable.”

“I personally believe that farmers, who are receptive in adopting modern farming technologies and practices can truly increase their harvests and at least double their previous incomes from rice farming,” he said’

He said studies by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) and PhilRice have shown that farmers using certified inbred seeds earned only P15,000 to 30,000 per hectare per crop which doubled or tripled per hectare per crop with the use of hybrid rice technology.

“Hybrid rice outperforms conventional rice varieties and has proven its potential, posting yields by as much as 33 percent or more than 30 cavans per hectare, as against certified inbred seeds,” he said.

He said the top provinces planting hybrid rice are Nueva Ecija, Cagayan, Isabela, Leyte , Occidental Mindoro, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zamboanga del Sur and Davao del Sur.

“I am of the strong belief that our country would achieve rice self-sufficiency if the government would push the utilization of hybrid rice technology. That I believe would spell the end to rice importation,” he said.

“Mabuti pa ang ilang Asian country – Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, at maging Vietnam, where we import a lot of our rice, and likewise Nigeria -- they are adopting our hybrid rice technology. They realize the potentials of the technology,” Malabanan added.