Brunei farmers can quadruple rice yield by double cropping

BRUNEI Darussalam can increase its rice yield to four tonnes per hectare, plant its main crop twice a year and attain 20 per cent rice self-sufficiency in 2011 with 1„300 hectares of land.

Brunei farmers can quadruple their yield by double cropping but they will have to work hard.

These observations were made by Ronilo A Beronio, Head of the Philippine Rice Research Institute, a Philippine government research and entrepreneurial institution.

At the Wasan demonstration farm, “we have demonstrated that the Philippine rice production system works… despite the problems”, said Beronio, who was part of a three-member delegation, comprising rice and soil experts, who made a three-day strategic assessment of the 1,500 hectares of land planted to rice in the four districts.

Accompanying Beronio during the visit to Brunei were international rice expert Dr Cezar Mamaril, Dr Eulalio Bautista, the

PhilRice OIC Deputy Executive Director for Research. They left the country yesterday.
When asked about the findings of the group’s assessment survey, Beronio told the Bulletin that the present strategic problem is “very challenging” and “a double whammy”.

Beronio pointed out that there is a problem with drainage, making the land hard to drain. Furthermore, there are toxicities in the water and land.

“The soil is acidic, salty, sulphuric and deficient in nutrients,” he said, adding that in Brunei, seawater floods the land during high tide.

Dr Mamaril, a retired scientist from the International Rice Research Institute, developed the Minus-One Element Technique (MOET), which checks if the soil has enough nutrients for the rice seed, and guides farmers in the use of fertilisers.

MOET uses a pre-weighted, low-cost fertiliser formulation from PhilRice to identify the nutrients present in the soil and those needed to nourish the plant well. It was demonstrated at the Wasan
demonstration plot last year.

Since last year, rice experts from PhilRice have been sent to Brunei to help in seed production, develop new varieties of rice suited to the Brunei soil and train local extension workers in farm techniques, Ronilo said.
“We will send two to three Philippine extension specialists to conduct a field school with Brunei farmers,” he said. “They will live and work with the local farmers and guide them in the art and science of modern rice production, for three to four months. After all, farming is a full-time job. ”

On Friday night, 20 students and a teacher from the Wasan Vocational School, as well as 10 extension workers from the Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources, will fly to the Philippines for a three-week training and education programme at the PhilRice Central Experiment Station.

The assessment survey and overseas training are part of the Brunei Darussalam-Philippine Bilateral Cooperation Project to help the Sultanate attain rice self-sufficiency.

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