Rice ratooning: High harvest with lower cost

HYBRID rice is highly recommended for farmers to increase their yield and income.
However, the common complaint with hybrid rice is that it also requires higher inputs and labor requirements. Thanks to ratooning technology, higher yield can now be attained with lesser input and labor requirements.
Ratooning is a technology that regenerates the growth of new rice tillers after harvest.  It is a practical method to increase farm productivity per unit area per unit time.  This is precisely because ratooned crops have shorter duration with costless venture than growing a new crop.
Moreover, it minimizes risk of pest and diseases and unpredictable bad weather condition because of its short duration.  It also maintains the genetic purity of the variety and lowers irrigation water requirements.
Department of Agriculture (DA) GMA rice program director Frisco Malabanan said hybrid  rice farmers can incur low expenses in ratooning because they do not need to till the land, buy new seeds, and apply much fertilizers, herbicides, and molluscides.
Based on the three-month hybrid rice ratoon project conducted in Ormoc City early this year, a  farmer engaged in hybrid rice ratooning harvested 32 cavans per hectare more in addition to the 160 cavans he already got in the main harvest.
With this promising result, farmers and the local government unit of Ormoc City plan to continue the ratooning project every March-May until 2013.  To maximize profit in a per hectare basis despite minimal interventions, a target of 40 cavans per hectare for every farmer-beneficiary is now being aimed.
“By attaining the target of 40 cav/ha ratoon yield, a farmer who sells his produce at P725 per cavan can have a gross income of P29, 000,” Malabanan said.  [Noel T. Provido-DA 11]