Philippine farms to try more China rice

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ—Forty new Chinese hybrid rice varieties will be planted in demonstration farms here in a bid to increase the number of varieties that can be used by farmers.

“From the trials we hope we can select the 10 best varieties which we can enroll for the national cooperative testing,” said Emmanuel Sicat, director of the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilScat).

The chosen varieties would be subjected to adaptability trials in 15 provinces in cooperation with prospective partners in the rice varieties’ commercialization, he said.

Aside from the Chinese varieties, PhilScat will also breed 10 hybrid rice varieties using Philippine and imported rice in the next five years, he said.

The development and commercialization of hybrid rice varieties is one of the three component projects of the second phase of the bilateral agreement between the Philippines and China. The first phase covered the period from 2003 to 2008.

The second phase of the agreement started this month and will end in 2016.

PhilScat, which is based at  Central Luzon State University here, is implementing the agreement.

The two other projects that will be carried out under the agreement are agricultural engineering and farm mechanization and the adoption of Chinese biogas technology using human and animal manure.

PhilScat officials said the use of hybrid rice varieties and farm mechanization would help increase rice yield and address the continuing increase in demand by the country’s growing population.

The biogas technology, on the other hand, is offered to address the problem of energy supply and sanitation in rural areas.