Hybrid rice demand growing

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is coordinating with local seed growers and local government units (LGUs) to meet the growing demand for hybrid rice.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said the demand for hybrid rice, known for its better cooking and eating qualities, had been on the rise in the last three cropping seasons.

As a result, hybrid rice farming is becoming more profitable with increasing orders from fastfood giants such as Jollibee Foods Corp. and other commercial establishments.

"Farmers who shifted to hybrid rice production are not only experiencing higher yield, but are also raking in huge income due to growing acceptance of their better-tasting farm product," he said.

Lorenzo noted at least two Jollibee and Chowking outlets within the Banawe and Santo Domingo vicinity in Quezon City have started buying on a monthly basis since April this year some 300 25-kilogram-bags of hybrid rice for use as component in their so-called ‘Value Meals’.

The same supplier from San Mateo, Isabela, was also commissioned by the management of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for the delivery of 60 tons of hybrid palay or rice equivalent to the institute for the rice allocation of its staff, employees, and contract workers.

The rice variety which the world renowned IRRI wanted to buy at a quoted delivered price of P1,100 per sack, is the F1 or Mestizo, which was developed by the country’s very own Philippine Rice Research Institute, Lorenzo said.

Rice farmers who have shifted to hybrid rice have harvested up to 10.8 tons of palay per hectare, or thrice the 3.2-ton per hectare average yield for irrigated rice farming in the Philippines, allowing them to earn a net income of up to P60,000 per hectare compared to about P15,000 if they continue cultivating conventional varieties.

From only about 10,000 hectares planted to hybrid rice 18 months ago, the government aims to cultivate 55,000 hectares this year and hopes to expand the area to 300,000 hectares by October next year as part of a strategy to attain rice self-sufficiency by 2004.