From : BusinessWorld
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
DAVAO CITY, Southern Mindanao -- A major rice seed trader is pushing to make Banaybanay town in Davao Oriental as the hybrid rice seed capital of Southeast Asia. Henry Lim, Hybrid Rice Seed Enterprises chief executive officer, said Banaybanay, now the site of his company's 400-hectare seed production farm, can supply hybrid rice seed needs of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malaysia and Indonesia, like the Philippines, are eyeing to develop their rice production because they are also importing rice from other countries, particularly Vietnam and Thailand. The Philippines is currently importing about 390,000 tons per hectares. Five years ago, the country was importing about 1.5 million metric tons of rice.
He said his company, one of the primary seed producers in the country, has also been eyeing other areas in Mindanao for the production of hybrid rice, or the or the PSBRc 72H rice variety, because of the favorable climate and fertile soil. One of these areas is in Bukidnon (Northern Mindanao) where the company is eyeing at least 100 hectares.
In Banaybanay, Mr. Lim said the rate of
seed production is about 1,000 kilograms of seeds per hectare. Using these seeds
will mean a production of about eight to 10 tons per hectare compared to just
about four tons per hectare using ordinary rice.
In forging agreements with 14 farmer groups, the government is eyeing to set up about 300,000 hectares to be planted with hybrid rice seeds within the next two years. Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) executive director, said that about 25,000 hectares are already used in producing hybrid rice seeds.
About 100,000 hectares of land would be used in hybrid rice seeds by the end of the year, Mr.Sebastian said.
Mr. Lim said production of hybrid rice should be strengthened because of the high yield to cushion the impact on the increasing population of the country, which the Population Commission estimated at 80 million this year.
With the population increasing at about 2.3% per year, Mr. Lim said rice production should grow at a higher rate with the use of modern technology. Unlike other varieties of high-yield rice, the hybrid rice being propagated locally are not classified as genetically-modified organism (GMO). "This is just a mixture of good rice varieties," he said, explaining that GMO uses other organisms being transplanted into the seeds.