News section
Philippines plan to double hybrid rice planting area to 600,000 ha
The Philippines
November 4, 2003

by Melody Aguiba
Manila Bulletin via SEARCA

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to expand hybrid rice planting target from 300,000 to as much as 600,000 hectares so as to raise chances of achieving 97 percent rice sufficiency by the end of the dry season, crop year 2004-2005.

Frisco M. Malabanan, DA rice program director, said government is contemplating on stretching the hybrid rice target as part of the goal for rice sufficiency, although nothing has been made final yet considering government's budgetary constraint.

"That is the intention-to raise target to 500,000 to 600,000 hectares, but that's not yet final. It will all depend on whether government has the budget," he said.

Malabanan said the target revision will also depend heavily on seed availability, although seed producers including top player SL Agritech Corp. (SLAC) and Monsanto Philippines Inc. (MPI) have been expecting that government should really raise target for hybrid rice production.

"Three hundred thousand is not enough for (us to achieve) rice sufficiency," said SLAC President Henry Lim Bon Liong.

Noel Borlongan, MPI government and public affairs director, said MPI may raise its seed production together with the government plan,

"We have 3,500 bags available of Magilas for the dry season planting (November 2003-April 204). We have been increasing our production every year. We are meeting (to consider raising our seed production)," he said.

As some hybrid rice farmers have been claiming that it cannot sell its produce to the government, Arthur C. Yap, administrator of the National Food Administration (NFA), said NFA is prepared to align its palay buying program with the DA's planned area expansion for hybrid rice.

"We'll try to see how we can help Director Malabanan said buying hybrid rice at P9.50 (per kilo) is (already) acceptable to farmers. NFA is looking at (how to buy hybrid rice production) from 36 identified provinces," he said.

The high-yielding rice variety that has so far proven in Occidental Mindoro to achieve 14.6 metric tons (MT) per hectare, about five times higher than national average yield of three MT per hectare.

DA originally set hybrid rice target at 300,000 hectares by the end of dry season ending 2005, but the target obviously falls short of 97 percent rice sufficiency aim by 2005. Besides, Malabanan said the hybrid rice planting is also complemented by planting of certified seeds which may total to 1.3 million hectares for crop year given a 500,000 hectare hybrid rice planting.

As for the last dry season, hybrid rice was planted on a total of 47,983 hectares, up by 125 percent from 21,301 hectares in the same period last year.

For the present dry season (November 2003 to April 2004) planting, targeted area is 162,078 hectares including 72,108 hectares in Cordillera Autonomous Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Central Luzon; 48,862 hectares in Western, Northern, and Central Mindanao, Caraga, and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao; 20,343 in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal Quezon,) and Bicol; and 20,765 hectares in Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas.

News release

Other releases from this source

7051

Back to main news page

The news release or news item on this page is copyright © 2003 by the organization where it originated.
The content of the SeedQuest website is copyright © 1992-2003 by
SeedQuest - All rights reserved
Fair Use Notice