Rice-Duck Farming Feasibility Study
INTRODUCTION
In 2011, President Benigno Aquino administration set a goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency by 2013 under the implementation of the National Rice Program. The country was declared 98% self- sufficient by the end of 2012. And just this fourth quarter of the year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala stated that full sufficiency in rice is considered to be attainable at the end of 2013. The NRP just one of the various government programs dealing with the reduction of poverty in the country through rice support.
PPP or Public-Private Partnership is another program that aims to support government effort to alleviate the economic status in the countryside. PPP is a scheme implemented by the Aquino administration, tapping both government and private sector expertise. Just this year, a partnership was made settled between the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur and mining firm TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (Tvird). This partnership assumes the role of promoting the Integrated Rice-Duck Farming System (IRDFS) in the province, a program supporting the country’s staple food production.
Rice Duck Farming
Rice-Duck Farming is an organic farming method where duck serves as the natural pesticides in rice paddies. This system originated in Japan and is now being practiced by rice farmers and hatchery farms in various provinces in Mindanao and Visayas. Studies show not just increase in reduction of pests due to a more efficient pest management where duck serves as predators to the rice enemies snails.
Ducks have been reported also as effective biological control for the herbivorous golden apple snail (Rice IPM Network, 1991). Rosales and Sagun (1997) reported a decrease in the snail abundance from 4.6 snails per m2 in the first year of cropping to 0.8-1.6 snails per m2 in the second year as a result of the continuous duck pastures in the rice fields after every rice harvest. The ducks' movements and feeding activity in the rice fields disturb
In 2011, President Benigno Aquino administration set a goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency by 2013 under the implementation of the National Rice Program. The country was declared 98% self- sufficient by the end of 2012. And just this fourth quarter of the year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala stated that full sufficiency in rice is considered to be attainable at the end of 2013. The NRP just one of the various government programs dealing with the reduction of poverty in the country through rice support.
PPP or Public-Private Partnership is another program that aims to support government effort to alleviate the economic status in the countryside. PPP is a scheme implemented by the Aquino administration, tapping both government and private sector expertise. Just this year, a partnership was made settled between the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur and mining firm TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (Tvird). This partnership assumes the role of promoting the Integrated Rice-Duck Farming System (IRDFS) in the province, a program supporting the country’s staple food production.
Rice Duck Farming
Rice-Duck Farming is an organic farming method where duck serves as the natural pesticides in rice paddies. This system originated in Japan and is now being practiced by rice farmers and hatchery farms in various provinces in Mindanao and Visayas. Studies show not just increase in reduction of pests due to a more efficient pest management where duck serves as predators to the rice enemies snails.
Ducks have been reported also as effective biological control for the herbivorous golden apple snail (Rice IPM Network, 1991). Rosales and Sagun (1997) reported a decrease in the snail abundance from 4.6 snails per m2 in the first year of cropping to 0.8-1.6 snails per m2 in the second year as a result of the continuous duck pastures in the rice fields after every rice harvest. The ducks' movements and feeding activity in the rice fields disturb