Negros Occidental starts seed production program

MANILA, Philippines — Negros Occidental is set to become the first province in the country to introduce an innovation through a local government unit-funded seed production program that would only focus on three rice varieties.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon has agreed to start a 50-hectare area that would produce seeds of three inbred varieties developed by DA-attached agency Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

The PhilRice seeds, RC 222, RC 160 and RC 216, will be produced from the provincial seed farm which will be distributed free to farmers.

“Recipient farmers will, in turn, be required to ‘return’ two bags of seeds which the provincial government will again distribute to two more farmers who will also be asked to pay back two bags of seeds each,” Piñol said.

The three PhilRice varieties were selected for propagation in the province because of their adaptability.

The RC 216, when transplanted, has a maximum yield of 9.7 metric tons (MT) per hectare with a maturity of 112 days after sowing. It is moderately resistant to brown planthoppers and green leafhoppers.

The RC 160, meanwhile, has a maximum yield of 8.2 MT per hectare if direct-wet-seeded and matures in 107 days after sowing. It has intermediate reaction to blast, bacterial leaf blight and green leafhoppers and is resistant to stem borer.

The variety is also known for its good eating quality because of its low amylose content.

The RC 222 has a maximum yield of 10 MT per hectare and matures in 114 days after sowing and is moderately resistant to brown planthoppers, green leafhoppers and stem borers.

“The program for Negros Occidental to focus on just three varieties will be the first to be implemented nationwide where farmers plant just about every known variety,” Piñol said.

“The multiple-variety farming system has proven to be a bane of the Philippine rice industry where farm management, including the handling of diseases, has largely been a problem,” he said.

The multiple-variety farming system also poses a problem to post-harvest operations where farmers who own small landholdings refuse to dry their palay in mechanical dryers with huge capacity because they have different varieties.

Milling is also considered as a problem because different varieties have different grain sizes and formation.

“Lessons learned from Vietnam showed that the country focused on at least two major varieties which were all high-yielding and early maturing,” Piñol said.

The Negros Occidental rice seed program is expected to serve as the blueprint for other provinces in the next few years.

The program is set to start in  next year’s planting season.