President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has given the green light for the adoption of a hybrid rice that will serve as a good alternative to the current inbred variety and will likewise increase crop production.
Malacañang on Wednesday said that Marcos had met with Agritech Corporation (SLAC) on Tuesday.
SLAC is represented by its chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Henry Lim Bon Liong, as well as farmers from Central Luzon to discuss and address the challenges in the rice industry.
In their statement, the SLAC had asked Marcos with regards to the conversion of rice farming areas for certified seeds (CS) to hybrid seeds.
They likewise said that they proposed to convert 1.90 million hectares target areas planted with CS to hybrid seeds in four years.
The Chief Executive also said that he wants a shift in process by providing subsidies and facilitating loan financing to farmers.
Among those that will be used will be the best practices applied by Central Luzon farmers.
“We would like to apply kung ano ‘yung ginagawa ninyo dito sa Central Luzon… so we can apply sa ibang areas,” Marcos was quoted as saying.
According to records of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and local government units (LGUs), the said hybrid system is expected to give a 41% better yield than inbred conventional seeds.
They also explained that the hybrid farmers had reported harvesting around 7 to 15 metric tons (MT) per hectare.
This is higher when compared to the average 3.6 MT/hectare for inbred seeds.
CurrentPH News Service
