by Christine A. Gaylican
Philippine Daily Inquirer via SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center

The Philippines is planning to export hybrid rice seed to other Asian countries, such as Japan and Malaysia, and to parts of Africa next year.

According to Henry Lim Bon Liong, head of a firm that grows hybrid rice seeds, an additional area of 200,000 to 300,000 hectares would have to be planted with hybrid rice before the Philippines could export neighboring countries.

"This of course will be done after we have stabilized the domestic production and we have enough rice buffer stocks," said Lim, president of SL Agritech Corp.

He told the INQUIRER that attaining rice self-sufficiency could be done next year if the government helps in securing arable land that could be cultivated with the hybrid rice seeds.

Even though there are already four hybrid rice distributors in the market, there is still not enough supply to satisfy the growing requirements of local farmers, Lim said.

The distributors include Monsanto Philippines, Bayer Crop Science Philippines and the Philippine Rice Research Institute.

Lim's firm brought to the Philippines the hybrid rice seed technology from China. SL Agritech Corp. perfected the technology, increasing the yield from an average of 4 metric tons per hectare to 9 metric tons per hectare.

Chinese scientist Dr. Yuan Long Ping developed the hybrid rice, which now feeds the entire Chinese population.

The Department of Agriculture is now pushing the hybrid rice seed technology and has been subsidizing half the price the hybrid seeds which are sold for P2,400 per bag.

Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. in interview said that the hybrid rice technology could be the answer to the country's rice problem.

Lorenzo said that with the technology, he hopes to cut down the country's rice imports that has cost the government P10 to P15 billion.

But some local farmers are not keen on using hybrid rice seeds. Cultivating hybrid rice, they said, is too expensive.

But according to Lim, the "higher yields" would offset the cost of cultivating hybrid rice.