DA eyes further hike in rice production

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lo-renzo Jr. said recently the govern-ment is optimistic that the country "can slow down rice importation in the near future" following the growing domestic propagation of hybrid rice leading to a possible review of prevailing rice pricing policy.

Lorenzo said President Arroyo has directed the agriculture de-partment to speed up the propa-gation of the rice variety deve-loped by PhilRice and backed last year by a government budget of approximately P450 million.

The agriculture department has set a target of 200,000 hectares for the planting of the high-yielding rice variety by the end of the dry season of 2004. A total of 125,000 hectares for both dry and wet sea-son planting this year has been set.

Lorenzo said total target area corresponds to a projected output increase of 500,000 metric tons of palay or 325,000 metric tons of rice.

The country requires 20,931 million MT of rice to feed an estimated populatin of 76.4 mil-lion. The average palay produc-tion of 12.9 MT, however, falls short of the requirement. The government currently fills the supply gap throough rice impor-tation mainly from Vietnam, Thailand and India.

The government, through the National Food Authority (NFA) imports an average of 375,000 MT from these countries.

Recently, the DA through Phil-Rice, stepped up the propagation of hybrid rice by tapping the re-sources of the Bureau of Corrections. Through a joint venture , an 8,000-ha. portion of the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan was set aside for planting with the hybrid variety.

The Bureau of Corrections will also provide the manpower for land preparation, planting and post-harvest requirements.

Lorenzo said the projected increase in yield is based on the successful farm trials conducted in several provinces using the hybrid rice variety. These are Davao del Sur, Isabela and Pangasinan.

The farm trials recorded ave-rage yields of six to 10 MT per hectare using the hybrid variety. Lorenzo said the superior yield capability also translate into approximately P13,000 additional earnings for farmers per hectare.

Lorenzo said Mrs. Arroyo also directed government agencies to extend seed supply, credit and technical support to the hybrid rice program. PhilRice procures seeds from growers which are re-sold to farmers at 50 percent dis-count. Lorenzo said private seed companies are expected to com-pete for market share leading to an inevitable price decline.

"The competition and resulting decline in price will lead to a non-subsidized seed program for hy-brid rice in the near-term," Lorenzo pointed out.

He said Quedancor is mana-ging the credit aspect of the hybrid rice program. Meanwhile, Phil-Rice continues to assist farmers in the adoption of hybrid rice tech-nology with the help of techni-cians from the private sector.