Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said P200 million (M) will be spent this year and another P300 M in 2014 to increase hybrid rice utilization and hectarage by eight to 10 per cent in 2014 from 3.5 per cent last year.
He said the DA under its national rice program will continuously promote both private and public hybrids, particularly those developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) through the establishment of more technology-demonstrations farms in top rice-producing provinces by the DA Regional Field Units, in partnership with private hybrid rice seed producers, farmers’ groups and irrigators’ associations (IAs), and local government units (LGUs).
In addition, farmers wanting to plant hybrids can avail of production loans of up to P50,000 per hectare and P41,000 per hectare, if they wish to plant inbreds, under the expanded P400-million ‘Sikat-Saka’ credit program implemented jointly by the DA and Land Bank of the Philippines, said Secretary Alcala during the 1st National Hybrid Rice Congress, April 4, 2013, at PhilRice, Muñoz City, Nueva Ecija.
He said the promotion of hybrid rice is an integral part of the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP), the Aquino government’s banner food security program that aims to attain sufficiency in rice and major staples like white corn, root crops and plantains.
“We are on track to achieving sufficiency in rice by end of 2013,” the DA chief said before 1,000 participants, composed of farmers, private seed producers, local government officials, foreign rice experts and other rice industry stakeholders.
Under the FSSP, the DA aims to produce a record harvest of 20 million tons (MT), making the country 100 per cent sufficient, which is 11 per cent or two million tons more than last year’s output of 18 million MT.
“We can take pride in the success of FSSP, but we know we need to exert more effort and cooperation, particularly among farmers’ groups, LGUs and the private sector,” Secretary Alcala said.
He said the choice of what rice varieties to plant, either hybrids or inbreds, still depends on the farmers themselves, as they will have to consider the suitability of their farm, availability of irrigation, amount of farm inputs and capital, and their level of technology.
To hasten the promotion of hybrids, he urged the private seed companies to make their seeds available at the right time when farmers need them.
He also challenged them and the DA-PhilRice to help farmers attain the “10-5” goal, that is, an average harvest of 10 tons of palay per hectare and an average production cost of P5 per kilo.
This way, he said, Filipino rice farmers could compete with their counterparts in Southeast Asia, like Thailand and Vietnam.
