Economic benefits of duck integration in conventional and organic-based rice production system

Rice farming is the primary source of living of most Filipino farmers. The net income from a hectare of rice cultivation is about P60,000.00 per year (PhilRice 2011) which is still below the annual poverty threshold of P84,205.00 for a family of 5 members (NSCB, 2011). Duck rearing on the other hand, is a lucrative enterprise in the rural communities for eggs and meat production. The integration of duck in rice cultivation is feasible and economically rewarding for farm families because they can obtain rice and duck meat as subsidiary products from the same piece of land. The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) Central Experiment Station, Maligaya, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija evaluated and compared the economic benefits of duck integration in conventional and organic-based rice production system in 2012 dry and wet seasons. Twenty one day-old seedlings of Korean variety Dasanbyeo was transplanted with distance of 20 x 20 cm. In conventional rice production system, 120-40-40 kg NPK/ha was applied during DS and 90-40-40 kg NPK/ha during WS. In organic-based system, 5 t/ha rice straw, 3 t/ha chicken manure and 200 kg/ha effective microorganism based inoculant (EMBI) were incorporated 28 days before transplanting. One thousand heads/ha of mallard duckling were integrated into conventional and organic-based rice production system 10 days after transplanting and retrieved at 70 DAT. In 2012 DS, the yield advantage of conventional rice + duck system over the organic-based rice + duck system was 2.38 t/ha. The monoculture conventional rice production system had a yield advantage of 2.90 t/ha. over the organic-based system. In 2012 WS, conventional rice + duck system had 0.79 t/ha yield increase than organic-based rice + duck system while in the rice monoculture conventional method had 0.43/ha yield advantage than organic-based production system. Rice + duck production system provided more than P25,000 income than rice monoculture under conventional production system, and more than P24,000 under organic-based production system.