DA 6 puts up 57 rice cluster areas
The Department of Agriculture -- Regional Field Unit (DA-RFU) 6 has established 57 rice cluster areas with a total of 2,965.4 hectares in Western Visayas for wet season 2006.
These cluster areas are distributed to the six provinces wherein Iloilo -- 18 clusters, Negros Occidental - 13 clusters, Aklan - 10 clusters, Capiz -- 9 clusters, Guimaras -- 4 clusters and Antique 3 clusters.
According to OIC -- Regional Executive Director Larry P. Nacionales, the GMA rice program aims to attain rice sufficiency, improve productivity, increase income of farmers and stakeholders, and reduce production cost.
"The clustering approach is a major feature of the GMA rice program which organize individual farmers into one manageable entity and linking them to bigger communities -- the municipality, province and up to the national level," Dir. Nacionales added.
The local government of each focus province or municipality will identify the basic unit or cluster online which will be the convergence point of different interventions in areas that are important for small farmers.
Mr. Manuel O. Olanday, the regional rice program action officer said that a cluster online is a set of contiguous rice areas of round 100 hectares within one-kilometer radius in a municipality wherein interventions such seeds, inputs, technical know-how, irrigation, mechanization, post production and market assistance will be prioritized.
"We can also form a cluster stage of around 50 hectares of contiguous rice areas in municipalities where formation of cluster online is difficult," Mr. Olanday said.
The cluster approach enables easier execution, monitoring, and process documentation of the rice program in the region. This program envisions a sustainable self-sufficient rice economy this year (2007) with a projection of 16.67 million tons total palay production in the country. It also targets to reduce production cost by 10% and increase yield by 20%.
The farmer cooperators in the cluster areas can avail of the following benefits: assured technical support, greater access to credit, access to high quality seeds and farm machinery, fertilizer discount, assured water supply, access to postharvest facilities and minimal market risk. While the private sector can organize and target market easily, have good business opportunities and lower overhead costs.
Mr. Olanday stressed that "only certified and hybrid rice seeds will be planted in the identified clusters so as to attain target average yield of 6.5 and 6.75 mt/ha in hybrid for wet and dry season respectively and 5.5mt/ha in clusters using certified seeds."
To help farmers reduce the cost of production and increase efficiency of input use, they will be encourage to adopt the Tipid Abono Fertilization Program, have their soil analyze through Minus One Element Technique (MOET) and soil test kit, and manage fertilizer through the use of Leaf Color Chart (LCC).
Likewise farmer-achievers in the cluster online will be tapped in the farmer-led extension (FLE) program. They will be the one to assist the LGU-ATs in providing technical assistance to cluster members and act as resource person on best farm management practices, use his field as technology demonstration farm, and lead the cluster members in attending farmer group discussions and meetings.
(JEEO/RAFID 6)