The Department of Agriculture (DA) has started a series of cluster meetings for the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program to map out and fine-tune intervention strategies against an expected prolonged dry spell caused by the El Nino phenomenon on rice production.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. authorized the meetings under Special Order 1516, gathering groups in the main regions of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to find ways to optimize productivity for 2023-2024 dry season.
The dry season for rice production runs from December to May, when rice fields need more water supplied by irrigation systems.
The DA noted that water management is of utmost importance during dry spells since it takes about 5 liters of water to produce a kilo of rice.
Laurel said the clusters will formulate plans for the deployment of interventions like seeds, fertilizer discount vouchers, and soil amelioration and bio-control agents during the dry season.
The DA is already implementing the agri-input assistance and scaling of rice technologies.
It has already mandated the adoption of alternative wet and dry technology to rice cultivation that will drastically reduce the amount of water needed to produce a kilo of rice to one liter per kilo from the current five liters.
Better seed varieties will be used to counteract the impact of rising temperature on rice yield, as it is estimated that a 1-degree Celsius increase in temperature could reduce yield by 10 percent.
While rice needs solar radiation for carbohydrate assimilation, a low temperature is preferred for optimum yield, the DA said.
Around 275,000 hectares of rice fields were earlier identified as vulnerable to the impact of an El Nino-induced dry spell. This may improve if the country’s water network, especially the dams, are prepped to contain high water elevation for irrigation, the department said.