‘Gloria rice’ expected to sow peace in Mindanao

Poverty-stricken areas in Mindanao will soon go hybrid with 57,230 hectares of land to be planted with high-yielding rice seeds known as "Gloria rice," Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo said yesterday.

With this, Mindanao is being groomed to become "Asia’s next biggest source of hyrbid rice," Lorenzo said.

He cited this year’s target is thrice more productive than the 15,712 hectares planted with hybrid rice seeds during the previous cropping.

Basilan province, a former lair of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, will begin to convert 30 hectares of its ricefields to "Gloria rice" in the next cropping season.

President Arroyo has ordered the propagation of this hybrid rice variety particularly in conflict-ridden areas in the southern Philippines in a bid to reduce poverty and improve the prospect of lasting peace in the region.

The decades-old rebellion problem in Mindanao has hampered its economic growth and fully restoring peace and order in the region.

Even Lanao del Norte, where most farmers and their families seek refuge whenever armed conflict erupts, will intensify its hybrid rice propagation.

Lanao’s previous 258 hectares will be expanded by almost tenfold in the next season.

Compostela Valley, claimed as a territory by communist insurgents, had 356 hectares already planted with "Gloria rice" between November 2003 and April this year.

Lorenzo said the agriculture department would work to expand this hybrid rice production area to 319 percent.

"We want to plant more hybrid rice in order to sow peace in this region," Lorenzo said. "The extra income and jobs to be created would boost the living standards of farm workers and hopefully contribute to current peace efforts in Mindanao."

A seasoned farmer of New Dagupan, Calintaan in Occidental Mindoro affirmed that "Gloria rice" has better consumption qualities than ordinary varieties.

"Gloria rice when cooked, is fragrant and soft even when it’s already cold," Almer Ituriaga, 35, said.

Ituriaga and his wife cultivate a four-hectare irrigated farm in Calintaan. Using old inbred seeds, the couple used to harvest only about 70 to 100 cavans per hectare.

In the past two cropping seasons, he has averaged 150 cavans per hectare, an increase of more than 50 percent.

Ituriaga said that with this rice, he used only 12 cavans of organic fertilizer and five cavans of non-organic fertilizer per hectare until harvest time.

Previously, he used an average of eight to 10 cavans of the more expensive organic fertilizer.

"Gloria rice" was developed in China and adapted to suit Philippine soil and climate conditions. It has five different hybrids: Mestizo, SL-9, Magilas 500, Bigante and Rizalina 28.

Today, some 75,000 farmers are already using this new hybrid rice variety and 125,000 more are set to plant these seeds this season.

The agriculture department targets about 600,000 hectares planted with "Gloria rice" this year.

Last month, Lorenzo announced that giant fastfood chain Jollibee restaurant has been serving "Gloria rice" in all its outlets nationwide.