Production of hybrid rice, often regarded by detractors as tedious and capital- and labor-intensive due to extra care and added farming procedures needed to attain the desired yield, can now be simplified by letting the seeds planted directly into the field instead of having them grown in a seed bed before transplanting.

This is the technology smart and practical farmers in Isabela developed by themselves in recent months which they showcased with pride during a visit of Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. to Cagayan Valley yesterday.

Lorenzo said the hybrid rice direct seeding technique can be considered a farmers' technology breakthrough in that it had not yet been applied on local farms with considerable success since hybrids began to be commercially propagated in the country two years ago.

With 60 hectares in Cauayan City used as demonstration farm, Lorenzo said the direct seeding technology sharply reduces seed input because it uses only between 20 to 30 kilograms of hybrid seeds per hectare compared with up to 100 kg per hectare if traditional or inbred seeds were used.

"Consequently, the technique offers considerable savings to farmers by up to P1,500 per hectare, " he said. Lorenzo pointed out that since it cuts crop maturity period by a week, direct seeding offers an advantage because it shortens the total time to produce palay which normally ranges from 116 to 120 days.

The technology developed by the Isabela farmers also requires less labor for the crop to be fully established, thereby helping solve the growing labor shortage problem felt in the farms because of migration and the lure for able-bodied men to find jobs in urban areas.

During a visit to Isabela, Lorenzo also inspected the progress made by the Villa Luna Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Cauayan City since the group was provided in 2002 by the Department of Agriculture with a P15.85 million soft-term loan which it used to venture into mechanized corn farming, corn milling and corn marketing.

Lorenzo said with the loan, the cooperative has significantly improved efficiency in the way its members plant, mill, and sell corn, thus helping Isabela return its coveted position as the country's top corn producing province.