Government expands high-quality seeds area

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is expanding seed production areas in the country efforts to increase farmers’ accessibility to high-quality seeds particularly in Mindanao.

DA-attached agency Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) recently inked an agreement with the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) for the establishment of a 50-hectare seed production area.

“Farmers’ competitiveness starts with high-quality inbred seeds. We have to double our efforts in producing high-quality seeds as demand for foundation, registered and certified seeds will increase with the implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund,” PhilRice acting executive director Sailila Abdula said.

Under RCEF, PhilRice will utilize P3 billion to produce and distribute high-quality inbred seeds to qualified farmers. The program is on top of DA core project for farmers.

The upcoming PhilRice-USM sub-station will be utilized mainly for seed production, rice technology demonstration, and experiments.

USM, which is based in Kabacan in Cotabato, is one of the country’s four leading state universities with achieved excellence in agricultural education.

“We have observed the low adoption of certified inbred seeds in Southern Mindanao. With the collaboration, we hope to see farmers growing high-quality seeds in their rice fields,” USM vice president Cayetano Pomares said.

The expansion of seed production areas is part of the Southern Swing Initiative of the DA that aims to develop at least 300,000 hectares of new rice farms in the southern provinces of the country. This is to compensate for the projected damage by typhoons every year on crops in Northern Luzon.

Other areas identified in the Southern Swing initiative are Western Visayas, Mindoro and Palawan, Central Mindanao, Lanao del Sur, Bukidnon and Zamboanga Peninsula.

Furthermore, Mariano Marcos State University in Batac in Ilocos Norte also renewed its partnership with PhilRice for another 25 years. PhilRice Batac station is currently housed at MMSU compound, which focuses on dry land agriculture.

The agreement will allow PhilRice to develop 10 hectares for seed production, technology demonstration, and construction and renovation of state-of-the-art facilities.

“We hope to contribute in helping our rice farmers cushion the effect of rice trade liberalization law,” MMSU president Shirley Agrupis said.