By Rocel C. Felix, The Philippine Star via SEAMEO SEARCA

German multinational company Bayer CropScience, one of the global leaders in hybrid rice seeds will be launching in the next two years, two new high-yielding rice seed varieties in the Philippines.

The company's local unit, Bayer CropScience Philippines said ongoing local trials in selected sites show very encouraging results.

"We are confident that these two new varieties will be well-received in the market as have our existing hybrid rice seeds that are steadily getting a bigger chunk of the market," said Carlos Saplala, country manager of Bayer CropScience.

Saplala said the company will commercialize in 2007, the production and distribution of Arize H-64 while a still unnamed variety that is resistant to the dreaded bacterial leaf blight (BLB) disease will be introduced in 2008.

"The new Arize H-64 is an improved version of our existing Arize variety. It has shorter-maturity period and longer slender grains and is slightly aromatic," said Saplala, noting that trials have shown that the new variety can yield up to 7.7 metric tons or 115 cavans per hectare which is 15 to 20 percent more compared to traditional inbred rice seed varieties sold in the local market.

On the other hand, the BLB-resistant variety which is still varying conditions, also show promising prospects in terms of significantly reducing the risks for farmers.

"The risks are greatly reduced for farmers in terms of yield loss, especially in the more vulnerable stages of production," said Saplala, adding that BLB infected rice farms can suffer yield loss of as much as 30 percent.

In the Philippines, the BLB perennially plague rice farms, especially during the wet season. BLB is also recognized as the second most dreaded rice diseases of rice worldwide. Infected rice seedlings wilt and roll up, turning grayish-green to yellow, until the whole seedling dies while those that survive are stunted and yellowish with poor yields.

Saplala said the introduction of new varieties dovetails with the company's goal of increasing its presence not only in the Philippines, but also in the Asian region.

In last week's opening of the company's second conditioning plant in Tagum City in Davao del Norte, Saplala said the company will be investing more on the construction of additional seed conditioning and storage plants nationwide.

"Aside from the hybrid rice seed conditioning facility, three major seed storage facilities will be put up this year in the Visayas, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. We are already producing quality hybrid rice seeds, but we need additional storage facilities to ensure that we keep the integrity of our seeds intact upon reaching their destinations so that farmers can expect to get the yield that they should be getting," said Saplala.

The P10-million, state-of-the-art facility has a processing capacity of eight to 12 MT of hybrid seeds per day. It has a storage capacity of 500 MT of seeds, equivalent to 33,000 hectares of hybrid rice planting materials at any given time. It is equipped with a German electronic packing system, ensuring efficient supply of the company's Arize Bigante seeds to rice farmers in Visayas and Mindanao.

"The Philippines is very strategic to our company's thrust to further consolidate our position in the hybrid rice seeds business in Asia," said Damien Plan, Bayer CropScience BioScience public affairs manager in Asia Pacific.

Plan disclosed the company which currently operates in 18 countries, including Latin America and the United States, is mounting an aggressive expansion program to make its presence felt in Asia.

"We are initially focusing on the Philippines and India where we have and are establishing hybrid rice seed breeding programs. We want to multiply ourselves by 10 in 10 years," said Plan.

He said that this year, the company will also be putting up similar hybrid rice seed programs, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil. In 2007, it will be entering two major rice producers and consumers - China and Bangladesh.

"The Philippines fits perfectly into our plan to dominate the Asia Pacific market," said Plan, noting that Bayer CropScience local unit, Bayer CropScience Philippines was one of the first countries in the region that focused on commercializing its high-yielding Arize Bigante hybrid rice seeds.