NGOs score gov’t’s costly hybrid rice program

The government should seriously reconsider its costly hybrid rice commercialization program (HRCP) and replace this with more cost-effective and realistic programs to achieve its goal of attaining self-sufficiency in rice. 

Several non-government, rice-based  organizations led by the Rice Watch  and Action Network (R1) said in a recent media briefing that a research study showed that hybrid rice varieties grown under the HRCP did not result in significant and consistent yield advantage over inbred rice varieties across the country.

"It is time to end the implementation of the HRCP  because it did not meet its goal of significantly improving rice production in the country and improving the livelihoods of the rice farmers," said Paul Borja, policy advocacy officer of the Southeast Asian Regional Institute for Community Empowerment and head of the research team of R1.

Borja noted that only in Nueva Ecija has hybrid rice performed better than inbred rice, with an average yield difference of over 20 percent. The main reason for this is Nueva Ecija’s agro-climatic conditions, such as good soil fertility and relatively stable climatic pattern that are conducive to hybrid rice.

On the other hand, hybrid rice production in Davao del Sur had a much lower yield advantage of around 11 percent over inbred rice but showed the same or much poorer performance than inbreds in Isabela and Iloilo provinces.

"The  study proved that  hybrid rice production is generally less profitable to farmers when  compared with inbred rice. Hybrid rice farmers spent more for inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and labor compared to inbred rice farmers. The  increase  in hybrid rice yield was due mostly to the use of  more fertilizers," said Borja.

Moreover, the study indicated that  hybrid rice varieties are more susceptible to pests and diseases which, in turn, require higher doses of pesticides.

Among the four provinces covered by the study, Nueva Ecija rice farmers showed a slight return-on-investment advantage over inbreds due to the area’s relatively higher productivity.

The study, which also covered other Asian countries, showed that Vietnam and India were  planting 500,000 hectares of ricelands to hybrids. These two countries have sub-tropical and sub-temperate zones where the relatively cold conditions allow the cultivation of rice hybrids. The only purely tropical country that plants hybrid rice is Bangladesh and possibly, in the other sub-tropical zones near the Himalayas.  However, Bangladesh can barely plant hybrid rice beyond 50,000 hectares.

"The Philippines can possibly gain the same, if not better rice productivity results as Vietnam and India by focusing on improving and developing inbred rice varieties that are adapted to local conditions rather than invest highly on hybrid rice technology," said Borja.

Dr. Cristina David of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) earlier cited in a study that the average dropout rate of farmers  participating in the program after using hybrid seeds for one season ranges from 68 to 78 percent per province.

Moreover, the HRCP has been largely criticized for favoring large hybrid rice seed firms such as a reported loan portfolio given to SL Agritech  for its capitalization worth P40 million.

David in her study raised concerns about the source of SL Agritech’s capitalization of which she suspects came through a loan from a government bank.

She claimed that  SL Agritech applied for a P300 million government-guaranteed loan but National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) chief Romulo Neri ordered for review.

SL Agritech, the company with the largest participation in HRCP, is  owned by a Filipino-Chinese consortium.

"If  the allegation about SL Agritech’s loan portfolio from government is true, then this is certainly a case where government credit is being used to capitalize a company that benefits directly from a government program," Borja pointed out.

R1 said  SL Agritech appears to be favored over other seed companies since it has been given a bigger allocation of the government’s seeds procurement program. SL Agritech’s hybrid rice variety reportedly replaced PhilRice’s own hybrid rice variety in seeds distribution program.

R1had the Agriculture Department to release information regarding all transactions made by private seed companies under the HRCP program.