SOME 3.5 hectares in the main campus are being prepared for the planting of foundation rice seeds for the eventual production of certified seeds to be distributed to Ilocos Norte farmers who may want to avail of the university’s Rice Seed Dispersal Project (RSDP) in the next few years.

            The university, through the Extension Directorate, has bought 20 kilos each of PSB Rc82, NSIC Rc160, and NSICF Rc242; and 10 kilos of PSB Rc18 from PhilRice which will be planted in strategic sites of MMSU’s production farms starting this month. Foundation seeds will produce registered seeds, which will be again planted to produce certified seeds.

            Certified rice seeds are the ones distributed to farmer-beneficiaries through the RSDP, a flagship extension program of the university.

            According to Mercy Gaño of the Extension Directorate, the RSDP initiates widespread adoption of newly-developed and seedboard-released rice seeds.  It aims to draw people to invest in high quality rice seeds from which they can get the maximum yield potential. It mainly addresses the slow-paced acquisition of certified rice seeds from other reputable institutions which have the same programs in line with food security.

           Aside from the farmers who are direct beneficiaries of the certified seeds to be produced, the farms also serve as technology demonstration areas to showcase proper cultural management practices in rice from sowing to postharvest handling of clean seeds. 

Accredited as producer of high quality rice seeds in the province, MMSU is continually providing steady and sustainable seed materials not only for Ilocos Norte farmers but also those from nearby provinces, including government agencies and private seed growers. 

             Started in the 1980s, the RSDP’s scheme integrates other development strategies such as crop insurance, financial counter-parting with farmer-cooperators, bio-organic farming, participatory monitoring and evaluation, marketing assistance, and inter-crop loan repayment plan, among others. The project provides interest-free loan of quality rice seeds to farmers who will also return the corresponding and proportionate seed materials after their first harvest. 

            With the support of President Miriam E. Pascua, the program is intensified further because of its positive impacts on the lives of farmers as manifested in their increased knowledge in profitable farming and their developed responsibilities in environmental protection and conservation, enhanced self-confidence in the use of improved farm practices, and heightened leadership capabilities in leading other farmers in their locality.

            Farmers are assured of quality certified seeds from MMSU because the Seed Quality Control Services of the Department of Agriculture conducts seed quality testing and tagging just after harvest before the seeds are dispersed to interested beneficiaries who have undergone pre-dispersal trainings, an activity pre-requisite to becoming project cooperators.

            The pre-dispersal training equips the farmers the mechanics of crop insurance which is one of the most important requirements of the project. Crop insurance is a mechanism of providing protection and assistance to cooperators in the face of natural calamities and uncertainties.

            Usually, the university conducts a field day before harvesting the rice crops in the production farms. This is one way of disseminating the result of the innovative development project, and exposing the farmer- cooperators into the actual conditions of the rice varieties that were planted.