CABANATUAN CITY — Nueva Ecija may soon find itself as the hybrid rice capital of the Philippines as more farmers in the province are planting the rice variety using an integrated farming scheme that has maximized their rice yield and income.

According to Gov. Aurelio Umali with this new title at stake for the province, also dubbed as the country’s rice granary, he has urged provincial agriculture officials to interact with all agri-stakeholders, especially the private sector.

Sometime last month a forecast was made by Henry Lim Bon Liong, chair and chief executive officer of SL Agritech Corp., that Nueva Ecija may become the next hybrid rice capital after a visit to a local hybrid rice farm in Sto. Domingo town.

Liong, who was with Dr. Zhang Zhaodong, a rice scientist and SL Agrithech’s executive vice president for research and development, also cited the Bagong buhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BBMPC) in the town as one example where working together as a group and sharing resources would have tremendous effect on food production.

The Sto. Domingo cooperative has been named by the Department of Agriculture as a model hybrid rice cluster as its farmer members have been harvesting an average of 180 cavans per hectare using the SL-8H hybrid rice variety.

Felino "Jojo" Garcia, Sr., BBMPC chair, said that he himself harvested 246 cavans per hectare during the past dry season, with his co-members posting an average of 200 cavans per hectare with the use of modern farming methods.