BY: RIC CLET and MARIZ REVALES
To enchance rice processing opportunities in
Maguindanao, a traditional upland rice project in Maguindanao will be doubled
to 40 hectares next season for the porvince’s One town One Product (OTOP) rice
delicacies like the “Tinagtag.”
With the need to aid the province in
economic progress as a means to achieve peace and order stability, the
Community-based Participatory Research (CPAR) project of the Bureau of
Agricultural Research (BAR) is expanding its earlier 20-hectare program.
The variety being popular used is the Red Dinorado.
Funding
amounted to P600,000. The project will be replicated in an aim to raise
more farmer leader-entrepreneurs from the program.
The Pigkalagan Farmers’ Association (PFA) and Ladia Farmers Association (LFA)
have just doubled their rice yield to an average of 2.8 metric tons (MT) per
hectare from 1.2 MT.
Although still far lower compared to the average yield in certified seeds and
hybrids that bring Maguindanao’s average rice yield to three MT, the yield
increase is already an achievement.
The upland farmers have never really been practicing proper fertilization
according to Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-Autonomous Region for
Muslim Mindanao (DA-ARMM) Project Leader Tong A. Abas.
“We’re now using fertilizers (including the organic BIO-N) and pest
control. These were among the most important practices that should be
observed as suggested during our PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal),” said
Abas.
Also a basic need is organizing farmers.
The organized farmers now comprise PFA, which has 15 members, and LFA, with 20
members. Of these groups 22 are participants of the CPAR-Traditional
Upland Rice-based Farming System (TURFS).
Even if rice is the single most valuable commodity in the country, many farmers
remain needy of help in organization, said BAR Director Nicomedes P.
Eleazar.
“Organizing farmers creates a lot synergy in rural projects. Many united
farmers can achieve much more than many farmers working separately from each
other can achieve,” Eleazar said.
BAR’s CPAR also conducts a PRA at the very start of a project. It is a
requirement in CPAR, a program where farmers themselves are asked what they
think they need exactly to become progressive.
BAR noted that upland farms are among the most neglected in the country.
Aside from being distant from cities, difficult to reach for farm technicians,
and the absence of irrigation, upland farms are far from farm to market roads,
storage facilities, and bulk food processing facilities.
Seed
Production
The upland rice program is now eyeing the more complicated seed production.
“There’s higher potential earning
from seed production for good seeds. Our farmers our good, they can produce
seeds,” said Abas.
There’s also a bigger demand for seeds. Rather than selling rice as food
to customers, farmers usually keep a portion of their production to themselves
for planting use. That can be a factor to seed shortage.
Maguindanao has the mountainous North Upi as the Little Baguio of Maguindanao
that is ideal as seed production land. It is also a center for agricultural
production where the Upi Agricultural School is found.
“It’s not necessary that a seed production land is in the plains, although a
flat land is better. Farmers traditionally do zero tillage (no plowing). But
what we do to improve the land (under TURFS) is to plow it,” said Abas.
Seed production program will potentially enable Maguindanao to sell seeds to
other provinces.
Maguindanao presently imports from other provinces some rice need with 173,728 MT
deficiency. This is 30 percent of consumption as of 2011, according to
provincial data.
Milling
and other farm constraints
The farmers may also have a separate project on the acquisition of a milling
machine. Most upland farmers still practically use the laborious hand-driven
pounding of rice. They use wooden pole as tool to separate rice grain
from the stalks.
“Maybe if we become successful, we may have another proposal for milling,” he
said.
A TURFS report named the lack of post-harvest (storage
and drier) facilities as among the challenges in upland farming.
Others are high costs of farm inputs, lack of access to lending, inadequacy in
technical know-how, lack of transportation to haul the harvest, weed threats,
and weather-related problems like flash floods.
Flash floods add up to the fact that most farms are rainfed, therefore, are
planted to rice only once a year. That’s instead of two times in irrigated
lands.
To avoid seasons of flooding, TURFS is also determining a cropping calendar
that will avoid heavy rains and flooding. Its distinct season due to
climate change comes earlier. The dry season is from Sept. 16 to March
15, the wet from March 16 to Sept. 15
Native
delicacies
A good local rice production may further enable Maguindanaoan families to produce
the native delicacies which they are famous for.
One of this is the “Tinagtag,” a crunchy snack made of ground rice, sugar, and
water. It is given as a gift in special occasions like Thanksgiving,
similar to how “tikoys” are given away during Chinese New Year.
“It’s very much known in Maguindanao, and you can’t make it if you don’t use
the native upland rice,” said Abas. The province’s indigenous rice is known for
both its glutinous and non-glutinous forms and delicious taste.
Tinagtag and other rice-based delicacies Dudul, Kumukunsi, Panganan Sising,
Putri Mandi, Tipas, Dadal Muntia, and Bulua are also the reasons why there is
limited rice supply.
“During seed planting, we run out of seeds. You have to go house to house
to buy seeds. People are not willing to sell their seeds because they
turn them into native products from which they earn a lot.”
As these rice-based goods are good for what they are, these have become a One
Town One Product (OTOP) in Sultan Kudarat, a Maguindanao town. OTOP products
receive financing and marketing support through the Department of Trade and
Industry. The brand Samra Maguindanao Delicacies is already distributed
all over the country.
Among the makers of Tinagtag are urban poor women members of UP SAVINGS
(Urban Poor Socialized
Actions and Viable Initiatives that Net, Gain, and Serve) Multi-purpose
Cooperative.
“Poor
economic conditions and low productivity trap farmers in a poverty
circle. It is very important that we find ways on how to improve farmers’
financial capability. Teaching and helping them, especially women,
process products are good opportunity to explore in order to help farmers
generate additional income,” according to the CPAR project.
CPAR-TURFS and DAF intervention
Of the 22 TURFS farmer-cooperators, 10 are from Brgy. Simuay and 12 from Brgy.
Darapanan.
The farmers were provided with 40 kilos traditional upland rice seeds, 4.5
kilos green mongo, two bags complete fertilizer, one bag urea, six packs of
Bio-N, one bottle herbicide, and one bottle pesticide.
A one hectare demonstration farm was established since the project in March
2009 in order to attract farmers’ interest on how to raise their yield.
On top of the CPAR-TURFS assistance, DAF also has a program for Maguindanao,
not only the uplands but the entire province.
To assure farmers that there will be a buyer for their produce, DAF committed
to buy these. But with the rice shortage, farmers refused to sell these
to DAF as they needed them for home use and delicacy-making.
Yield should sustain growth from an average of 3.08 MT per
hectare in 2011 to 3.28 MT, 2012; 3.57 MT, 2013; 3.63 MT, 2014; 3.79 MT, 2015;
and 3.93 MT, 2016.
Maguindanao has a total rice area of 94,773 hectares consisting of 23,000
hectares of irrigated land and a comparably bigger 71,770 hectares of rainfed
area.
There remains a potential irrigable area of 27,681 hectares. It is
estimated that 18,127 farmers will be benefited with the development of
irrigable areas. Among the beneficiary areas are Libris, Alip, Malmar,
Lambayong, Pagris, Talayan, and Kabulnan.
Maguindanao actually suffered a rice production decline of 7.3 percent to
578,128 hectares in 2011. This is a result of the flash-flood causing
typhoons Ceding, Dodoy, Egay and Frank.
Also the abolition of an earlier 50-50 subsidy scheme, where government paid
for the cost of certified and hybrid seeds, caused the decrease.
The Maguindanao provincial government separately receives aid from DA and the
Philippine Rice Research Institute.
From June to September this year, a P33.8 million is being allocated for
various assistance including seed for climate change varieties. This
includes submergence-tolerant varieties, drought-tolerant varieties, early maturing
varieties, and certified seeds.
Other
suggested priority assistance to Maguindanao farmers are support for organic
fertilizer through composting facilities, construction of new and
restoration of irrigation in coordination with ARMM, Regions 9, 10, and 12,
provision for post harvest facilities and farm mechanization (warehouses), and
farmers’ training.
