Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, January 20, 2012 (PIA) – Rice production in Bohol increased by about 16.44% last year compared to the previous year.
In fact, according to a data provided by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) here, the feat in 2011 is higher than in 2008, when Bohol’s over-all palay production peaked at 218,701 metric tons.
This year, total palay production in Bohol as gathered from a composite of irrigated, rain-fed and upland rice areas reached 225,246 metric tons.
The development elates Governor Edgar Chatto who has aggressively urged Boholanos to adopt new technologies and high yielding seeds to increase production and solidify Bohol’s claim as Central Visayas’ food basket.
This year, Bohol also put up another P2 million in support to the rice program implemented by the local agriculturists.
On the good news, Engr. Maximino Servillon pointed out that the result is even the partial tabulation as BAS would still needs to process more of the remaining last quarter data collected
Servillon, BAS provincial statistician showed that palay is Bohol’s biggest agricultural produce which comprises 36% of the whole pie in an agricultural crops contribution chart.
In 2008, the BAS data shared to key government offices showed Bohol rice production at 218,701 metric tons, which was the highest tally in previous years. This data went down to 195,445 in 2009.
It may also be recalled that in 2008, the national government put in hybrid rice seed subsidy and the provincial government also joined in to fund other farm input needs.
By the next year, and with the national government subsidy cut-off, rice production further dwindled to 193,491 metric tones while registering the smallest yield per hectare in the last four years at 2.58 metric tons per hectare.
Alarmed by the down trend and stirred by the pronouncements by commercial hybrid rice dealers that Bohol has one of the country’s lowest yields per hectare, agricultural authorities launched massive campaigns for scientific farming, certified seeds use and proper farm inputs intervention.
While this year showed significant increase in rice production, the same victory can also be seen in the average yield per hectare at 2.89 metric tones.
This is also slightly higher than the 2.87 metric ton average posted in 2008, or when Bohol attained its highest rice sufficiency.
According to Larry Pamugas, Bohol Assistant Provincial Agriculturist, the increase is most notable in irrigated rice areas where the increase is .44 metric tons per hectare, the data showed.
Pamugas pointed out that the increase is noted while an increase of nearly hectares of harvested area is added to the 74,958 hectares planted last year. (30)