‘Miracle Rice’ Harvested In 194 Days, Yields 2.2-MT

Today, I am flying to Cagayan de Pro City en route to Malaybalay, Bukidnon to witness what I believe is a groundbreaking development in rice farming in the country, the harvest of an upland rice variety 194 days after it was planted.
On Feb. 8 of this year, the Tagoloanon Tribal Farmers led by the clan’s Chairman, launched an Upland Rice Farming Project in their Ancestral Land in Malaybalay using a hybrid rice variety which could be planted in the uplands without irrigation., TH 82 of Seedworks Philippines.
Shortly after the ceremonial planting on Feb. 8 participated in by the Department of Agriculture Region 10, Seedworks Phils. and the Tribal Farmers, El Niño struck Northern Mindanao.
Everybody gave up on the project knowing that no rice variety could survive a 3-month drought.
The biggest surprise, however, was that after the rains fell in May, the brown stumps of rice left in the field suddenly turned green and proceeded to produce flowers and grains.
Top Rice Farmer Danilo Arcales Bolos, who holds the highest yield on record of 17-metric tons per hectare, and rice scientists led by Dr. Sailila Abdula, former Executive Director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and now head of PhilRice Midsayap, inspected the rice field in July.
I was with them during the visit to the Upland Rice Demo Farm, a program which I pushed with the help of the DA and Seedworks Philippines as part of the Food Security Strategy for the Upland Tribal Areas
“Gusto ko talaga makita kung paano nabuhay ang palay sa tatlong buwan na El Niño. Malaking bagay ito para sa aming mga magsasaka,” said Bolos, a former OFW who holds the national record on the highest rice yield per hectare, who was impressed by the resilience of the rice variety.
The Hybrid Upland Rice, TH-82 of US Agri Seeds, which was sown on Feb. 8 literally hibernated during a 3-month drought which followed and came back to life when the rains fell early May.
Yesterday, DA technicians conducted a preliminary cut of the El Niño battered rice in the demo farm, a full 194 days after the seeds were sown, or 84 days more than the 110-day maturity period for this Hybrid Rice Variety.
The computed yield per hectare was 2.22-metric tons, not a volume which would earn farmers a lot but the fact that the rice variety survived and produced that much is nothing short of a miracle.
This phenomenon is the first recorded case of “Rice Hibernation” in the country and a serious study is indeed the right move.
Our rice farmers, faced with the problem of Climate Change, could really benefit from this study.
#GodWorksInMysteriousWays!