SeedWorks Philippines launched yesterday a dry-direct seeding technology in demonstration farms located in two barangays in Pangasinan.
The company said the technology is an emerging rice-planting technique that is designed to address scarcity in water especially in the uplands and other areas where irrigation could not be sufficiently maintained.
Under the process, rice seeds are directly sown into the soil which cuts the overall farming process and labor costs as the need to puddle-transplant or wet-sow rice plants is skipped.
SeedWorks added the technology is also suitable for its versatile and high-yielding TH-82 Tatag hybrid rice variety as the launching of the technology in Pangasinan is also meant to prove that it will work in the local setup.
“Through this field demo, we want every farmer to realize that growing hybrid rice may not require spending more… Through using SeedWorks’ TH-82 hybrid rice variety, farmers can still get high yield while spending less in production cost using dry-direct seeding technology,” said Carlos Saplala, SeedWorks Philippines president, in a statement.
However, Saplala said not every hybrid rice variety can withstand the dry-direct seeding culture
He said in a previous dry-seeding farming test conducted in Central Mindanao, TH-82 yielded over 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare compared with the average maximum yield of just 2.5 metric tons per hectare using indigenous rice varieties which are dependent on rain water.
