Tuesday, June 22, 2010

News update Aquino's vow to stop imports seen to boost rice hybrids

The pledge of incoming President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to stop rice importations has buoyed the enthusiasm of officials in spending more funds for hybrid rice seeds. In a recent report, the Department of Agriculture (DA) credited the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program for bridging the rice deficit and improving the country's food security. It added that from 2001 to 2009, DA provided only 1.68 million bags of hybrid rice seeds and 12.5 million bags of certified seeds nationwide. On a per year basis, it meant that the 186,666 bags of hybrid rice seeds were distributed while an average of 1.38 million bags of certified seeds were disseminated nationwide. Clearly, the volume of rice seeds could not provide any incremental production growth that would shatter the annual deficit placed at 10 percent. Data culled by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) for yields of hybrid rice showed the annual average yield for hybrid rice is only 5.58 metric tons (MT) per hectare. Moreover, hybrid rice seeds cannot be nurtured by farmers since the supposed high yield is good only for the first generation, meaning the farmers will have to depend on the biggest supplier - SL Agritech - for supply. DA believes that by promoting hybrids, the country could bridge the 10 percent rice production deficit and reduce the country's historic high 2.4 million MT importations last year. BAS statistics showed that by adopting hybrids, the country could save between $144,846,696 to $206,445,828 that would have gone to imports of Thai and Vietnam rice at 5 percent brokens and 25 percent brokens. For dry season of 2011, DA projects 400,623 ha planted to hybrids, with the figure slashed to 160,000 for the wet season, for a total of 560,623 ha. Target production would be 2,235,476 MT for the dry season and only 819,200 MT, for a total of 3,054,676 MT. In the case of certified seeds, the projection is 4,440,000 MT for the dry season and nearly double at 8,568,575 MT for the wet season, for a total of 13,008,575 MT. The total projected production of good seeds would be 1,875,890 MT for the dry season and only 1,300,027 MT for the wet season, or a total of 3,175,917 MT. Thus, the total projected rice output for 2011 is 19,239,168 MT.
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MANUAL FOR HYBRID RICE SEED PRODUCTION.

Hybrid seed production in Jiangsu province, China

Heterosis and Hybrid Rice Breeding (Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics)

Hybrid Rice Seed Production: Theories and Techniques

Super Hybrid Rice Research (In Chinese)

Hybrid Rice Technology

Hybrid Rice