ILOILO – This province was Western Visayas’ top rice producer in 2018, data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office showed.
It produced 939,332 metric tons (MT) of palay.
The rice yields in other provinces of the region last year were as follows:
* Aklan – 106,608 MT
* Antique – 307,458 MT
* Guimaras – 45,728 MT
* Capiz – 347,129 MT
* Negros Occidental – 486,038 MT
According to Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) chief Ildefonso Toledo, the farmers’ use of hybrid rice seeds contributed to the high production last year.
“We intensified our promotion of hybrid rice to farmers,” said Toledo.
Hybrid rice seeds could increase a farmer’s production between 10 MT to 15 MT per hectare.
From common rice varieties, a farmer could only produce between five to eight metric tons per hectare.
In 2017 Iloilo produced 906,000 MT of rice.
Department of Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol is pushing for the use of hybrid rice seeds to offset the adverse effects of climate change to production.
This 2019, PAO’s target rice production is one million metric tons.
“We are hopeful nga malab-ot ang target,” said Toledo.
There are around 100,000 rice farmers in Iloilo with an average landholding of 1.2 hectare each, PAO records showed.
Iloilo’s top-producing towns last year were Pototan, Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, Leganes, Zarraga, Oton, Tigbauan, Santa Barbara, and Ajuy.
There were 74,000 hectares of rain-fed rice land in Iloilo and 56,000 hectares irrigated./PN