400 rice varieties released by IRRI to date

More than 400 improved rice varieties have to date been released worldwide by the Los Baños-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Of the varieties, 64, including two hybrids, were released in the Philippines.

One of the hybrid varieties, PSB Rc72H or "Mestizo", is now the centerpiece of the government’s Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program being spearheaded by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

"The process by which varieties are released in the Philippines ensures that they will be valuable to farmers," IRRI said.

Elite lines from the institute, PhilRice, and UP Los Baños (UPLB) are evaluated in national cooperative tests (NCT) conducted in major rice-growing areas of the country.

Promising lines are further evaluated in multi-location adaptation trials. The Rice Technical Working Group recommends promising lines to the technical secretariat of the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) for varietal release.

Final approval is granted by the NSIC secretariat, which is chaired by the Department of Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor.

IRRI maintains the breeder seed of IRRI varieties and provides seeds of PhilRice, where it is multiplied as foundation seed PhilRice distributes seeds to members of SeedNet, an association of private seed growers who further multiply the seed and sell it to farmers. To adopt a new variety or not is the individual farmer’s decision. – Rudy A. Fernandez