Government urged to act immediately in support of hybrid rice sector

MANILA, Philippines - Local hybrid seed grower, SL Agritech, founded by Henry Lim Bon Liong, is asking the Aquino administration to act fast in supporting the hybrid rice industry or else lose again its opportunity to be a dominant supplier in the global rice market against Asian neighbors like Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh or even Africa, which are currently using its technology massively.

Lim said inconsistent policies in the past administration in granting seed subsidies and irrigation support has led to the slow development of the industry in the past decade. “We can’t afford to lose another six years otherwise we will be outpaced by the countries that are currently importing the technology from us and propagating it massively in their farms, Lim said.

Local rice farmers are slowly adapting but they need government support since majority of them have no financial capability to adapt to modern farming technology, he added.

A recent survey by the Department of Agriculture showed that farmers need assistance from government through seeds subsidy and irrigation, the two most important components to achieve bountiful harvest.

For several years now, the use of hybrid rice technology has been shown to be effective in doubling or tripling farm yields to as high as 17 tons per hectares versus the certified inbred seeds’ output of four to five tons per hectare.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has said that the government will de-emphasize the use of hybrid rice varieties and promote on an equal basis the use of certified inbred seeds.

“Continuous use of certified seeds will not bring us to the rice sufficiency level that we need. It will necessitate an expansion of our available rice land, which we no longer have,” Lim said.

Expanding the irrigation facilities, not to mention the gargantuan sums needed to support such infrastructure, will take several years to materialize, he added.

“Obviously, the only immediate solution available to us to achieve rice sufficiency in the next three years is the use of hybrid rice seeds technology. But we need the government to have a focused and sincere plan so that farmers will be encouraged to adapt,” Lim added

Lim said his company is now exporting its seeds to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Africa. “If the government won’t act now and adopt this technology, it will not be surprising later for us to be importing rice from these same countries,” Lim said.

SL-8H is registered internationally in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam . By 2011, it will receive its international registry in Myanmar for the parent stocks. SL-8H seeds’ exports have risen from 50 tons in the beginning to 1,000 tons of the last shipment to Indonesia. A ton of parental seeds is enough for 30 to 40 hectares of hybrid rice seeds to be produced.

Importing countries have their own production of hybrid rice seeds but these are not enough to meet their requirements, which is why they import from the Philippines. The only other country that could produce seeds in excess of local requirement is China, where it all originated.