Probe hybrid rice debacle

A few years back,  not a few people have aired the hope that government would make good its promise to stop agriculture subsidies, particular those that go to the rice sector via the Ginintuang Masagana Ani (GMA) program for hybrid rice production.

That subsidy which reportedly gave a preferred Filipino-Chinese seed supplier a P2.7 billion bonanza has apparently continued despite howls from rice farmers from different parts of the country .

Recently, it is the turn of Nueva Ecija farmers to raise the howl that the seeds supplied by the “preferred” firm has produce dwarfed crops that resulted in some 70 percent reduction in their harvest. I am sure they will say that the Nueva Ecija farmers’ experience is a freak one or they probably do not know how to plant rice.

Freak or not, this merits a serious look. That complaint was there in 2006. It is already 2009 and farmers are still complaining. Maybe the farmers are right this time or should at least be given the same benefit of the doubt given to the supplier for the past two years.

They say this billion-peso subsidy scheme for this preferred supplier has not delivered the promise that there will be a radical increase in the country’s rice production. In fact, the reverse happened. While the subsidy was pouring into this preferred supplier, farmers are wondering why the country became the biggest rice importer in the world.

The farming sector is hoping Congress would take up the task of investigating this subsidy scheme for the preferred supplier.

Farmers are not insinuating that there is anything wrong regarding the billion-peso subsidy for this company. They are simply expressing the hope that some political leaders who can do something about the plight of farmers would ask them how they fared under this subsidized hybrid rice program.

We hope somebody would ask our farmers whether this scheme which limited their choice of seed supplier to just one was beneficial or not to them.

There are reports that government had been warned that subsidizing this company would remove the level playing field as was the complaint of international agriculture research firm Bayer Cropscience.

Unfortunately, the warning of Bayer was unheeded. And so were the cries of the complaining farmers.

This supplier is now saying that it is investing P120 million more to produce more hybrid rice seeds and that their seeds will yield four times more than traditional rice varieties.

The same company also reportedly got additional incentives from the Board of Investments to enable it to produce more of the seeds that Nueva Ecija farmers have complained about. We hope this is not a waste of incentives.

Not so hidden agenda

Latest reports from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveal that further falls in airline stock prices mean quoted airlines have lost half their value in the past year.

In a report furnished this column, IATA officials noted that airline industry net losses for the fourth quarter of 2008 so far announced total $800 million, suggesting that IATA’s $5 billion loss forecast for 2008 is still on track.

The same report also revealed that Spot jet fuel prices remain steady at $60 per barrel but hedged price are much higher and that crack spread has widened to 40-50 percent.

Compounding the world airline industry’s dilemma is the fact that air freight volumes are down by an unprecedented 22.6 percent as business inventory adjustment has slashed shipments.

In response, airlines are now cutting capacity at a rate of 1.5 percent but so far, they are still lagging behind demand slump on international markets. Also, older aircrafts are no longer being parked in December but the recession will force further fleet adjustment.

Not too late

For women young and old who still think that cervical cancer vaccines don’t work, it’s not too late to change your mind.

New data furnished by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have shown that young women vaccinated with cervical cancer vaccine could look forward to a prolonged immune response against the two most common cancer-causing human papillomavirus virus (HPV), types HPV 16 and 18 for at least 20 years.

Three statistical models (power-law, modified power-law and piece-wise models) were used to predict the long-term persistence of antibodies against HPV 16 and 18 and all three showed that the levels of antibodies against HPV 16 and 18 induced by GSK’s cervical cancer vaccine will remain significantly above those seen following natural infection for over 20 years.

The statistical models used in this study utilized data from an ongoing phase II study conducted over 6.4 years, the longest study for a cervical cancer vaccine to date. Data from this 6.4-year study also show that GSK’s cervical cancer vaccine, which is indicated for females 10 years of age onwards, is the only vaccine to demonstrate high and sustained antibody levels associated with 100 percent efficacy in preventing pre-cancerous lesions caused by HPV 16 and 18 for up to 6.4 years.

GSK’s cervical cancer vaccine is formulated with the innovative adjuvant system AS04, specifically designed and selected to enhance the immune response against HPV, which is responsible for cervical cancer. Adjuvants are substances used to enhance the immune system’s response to an antigen, and data shows that GSK’s cervical cancer vaccine, adjuvanted with AS04, induces a stronger and more sustained immune response compared to the same vaccine antigens adjuvanted with conventional aluminium hydroxide alone.

Cervical cancer currently ranks as the second highest killer cancer among women in the Philippines, claiming an estimated 4,300 lives out of the 6,000 cases reported each year.

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