DA to focus on hybrid rice clustering

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture will allocate an initial P90 million to focus on clustering areas for its hybrid rice program to further improve the production of  palay (unhusked rice) amid a liberalized regime.

DA technical advisor for hybrid rice program Frisco Malabanan said the clustering program of three regions would begin during the wet season with planting to start in May and June.

At least 100 hectares per cluster will be planted with high-yielding varieties with an allocation of P30 million each.

These regions are Central Luzon, Western Visayas and Davao Region, which are among the early adaptors of hybridization in the country.

“We want to show farmer cooperatives that they should not be confined to production, they should transform into agripreneurs,” Malabanan told reporters in a weekly forum Tuesday.

“In every cluster, it will already include all the post harvest facilities from land preparation machines, tractors, mechanical transplanter, rice combine, then post harvest including warehouse, dryer, rice mill and even hauling trucks,” he added.

This year, the DA can only tap 320,000 hectares given its limited budget for hybrid.

Malabanan said the bulk of the budget is still focused on the distribution of hybrid rice seeds.

“That’s why our Secretary (William Dar) wants to strengthen the private-public sector partnership. We are looking at 1.5 million hectares by 2024 and clustering will already be our approach,” he said.

DA allocated 2 billion for hybrid this year, 43 percent higher than the year ago.

Malabanan said hybrid would contribute significantly in achieving the country’s target of hitting at least 19.6 million metric tons of palay for 2020.

“This will have a big impact our production that’s why we need to focus our program,” Malabanan said.

“All regions will start organizing their clusters this year, hoping that by 2021 once we are given a higher budget, we can expand hybrid further,” he said.

Hybrid is a type of rice that has been bred from two very different parents. It significantly outyields other rice varieties.

Hybrid yields up to 10 MT per hectare per harvest which is much higher than the national average of four MT per hectare.

In Nueva Ecija - a major rice producing province and user of hybrid technology -  the average yield for hybrid is nine MT per hectare.

Experts said hybrid is a key technology that meets the increasing global demand for rice. It allows farmers to produce and earn more, thus making rice more available and affordable to consumers.