MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is launching a P117-million National Hybridization Program that will provide government-supplied hybrid rice seeds to farmers.
According to National Rice Program Director Dante de Lima, the National Hybridization Program would be paired with a P400-million Land Bank of the Philippines financing facility for rice farmers.
De Lima said the DA National Rice Program is financing its own hybrid rice program to compete with the commercial hybrid rice.
The National Hybridization program will plant 50,000 hectares to Mestizo 19 and 20 which is expected to produce 7.5 tons of rice seeds per hectare or a production of 375,000 MT.
The hybrid rice seeds to be produced, De Lima said, will be used in next year’s first dry season cropping next year in strategic areas.
According to De Lima, the National Hybridization Program, De Lima said, would incorporate a loan package with the Land Bank of the Philippines which will provide credit and saving facilities to qualified rice farmers recommended by irrigators’ associations.
The Landbank financing facility would be provided initially in Iloilo or Aklan, Isabela, Nueva Vizacaya and Region 12.
The credit limit would be P50,000 per hectare with a 15 percent per annum interest rate.
The credit would enable the rice farmers to purchase the government hybrid rice seeds at P3000 per bag compared to the private sector commercial hybrid rice which is sold at P4,500 per bag.
The P400-million LandBank financing facility is scheduled for approval by January 2012.