A staggering amount of US$ 23.25 million has been saved from rice importation by the government’s hybrid rice commercialization program, a study of the Philippine Rice Research Institute[PhilRice] showed.

Led by Flordeliza H. Bordey, Dr. Leonardo A. Gonzales and PhilRice executive director Dr. Leo S. Sebastian, PhilRice researchers observed that government investments on the hybrid rice commercialization have incurred financial and economic benefit-cost ratios of 1.56 and 1.13, respectively.

These findings suggest that the benefits from hybrid rice derived by the country have outweighed the costs of the program.

Covering the period from 2002 wet season to 2004 dry season, the study showed that hybrid rice production is now one of the best options to increase farm productivity and income among the technologies available today. On-farm data show that it can increase yield by 8 to 14 percent, as more hybrid rice farmers harvest 5 tons a hectare (t/ha) and above than inbred rice farmers.

However, although hybrid rice performance is generally superior over inbred rice in terms of yield, this performance varies from place to place, the researchers said. This implies the location specificity of hybrid rice technology.

Thus, the researchers suggest it would be better to promote the existing hybrid rice varieties in more suitable areas like Isabela, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Nueva Ecija. However, research and development for location-specific crop management practices, and adaptation trials of new hybrid rice varieties could be done in less suitable areas.

It was also observed that hybrid rice has a price advantage of around 25 centavos per kilogram over inbred rice, indicating a good market acceptability of milled hybrid rice due to its good eating quality. However, the researchers said this phenomenon is unique in the Philippines as price of hybrid rice in other countries are usually discounted because of poor quality.

In effect, breeding of better hybrid rice varieties that are high-yielding and have good eating quality is necessary to preserve this price advantage and encourage more farmers to plant hybrid rice. However, strict implementation of grain standards should be done to ensure that incentives from marketing of quality rice will trickle down to the farm level, the PhilRice researchers stressed.

It was also observed that although production cost for hybrid rice increased due to higher seed, fertilizer, pesticide and labor costs, the difference in production cost per cavan has narrowed as hybrid farmers have become more familiar with the technology. This resulted in higher net income from hybrid rice production than from inbred rice.

Even without seed subsidy, net income from hybrid rice was observed to be higher specifically during dry seasons when photosynthetic activity of the plants is high. This shows that although subsidy played an important role in the initial adoption process, its gradual phase-out can be programmed now, since farmers would still have incentives to use hybrid rice even without the subsidy.

Aside from impacts on farm productivity and income, hybrid rice promotion also created sequential adoption of other component technologies in rice production that have been ignored in the past. For one, farmers are fast-learning that 20 to 25 kg of seeds is enough to plant a hectare using transplanted method of crop establishment. In addition, farmers now also adopt synchronous planting, use of 400 sq m seedbeds, as well as straight and row planting. Hybrid rice use has also encouraged farmers to use organic fertilizers specifically in the seedbeds.

The government has played an important role in the initial dissemination of hybrid rice technology and its investments had paid-off because its efforts had already created a certain demand for the technology, the researchers said. This opportunity can now be taken by the private sector to lead in the next phase of hybrid rice commercialization as the government moves away from its commercialization activities.

As a result, government resources that would be freed from these activities could be allocated in research, extension and technical assistance to farmers, the researchers said.