INQUIRER COMPOSITE IMAGE/JEROME CRISTOBAL
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) promotion of the use of hybrid seeds is seen to help in attaining rice self-sufficiency in two years, but this will not be possible if the government “will not trust our own farmers, our own people.”
Teodoro Mendoza, a retired crop science professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, said this as the DA started working on promoting the use of hybrid seeds instead of certified seeds on 1.5 million hectares of land.
READ: DA eyes planting of hybrid seeds in 1.5M hectares of land across PH
Last Friday (Feb. 17), the DA said it is now preparing a “strategy plan” in a bid to increase crop production and eventually achieve rice self-sufficiency in two years as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to the use of hybrid rice varieties.
“[This] will help local farmers enhance their crop production,” the DA said.
As it said, the use of hybrid seeds has given 41 percent better yield in the past two years, with farmers saying they have harvested 7 to 15 metric tons per hectare compared to the average 3.6 metric tons per hectare for certified seeds.
GRAPHIC Ed Lustan
But as Mendoza told INQUIRER.net on Monday (Feb. 20), while the use of hybrid seeds really has advantages, especially to farmers, the way the government is promoting it has serious implications.
Ronnie Estrella, a farmer in Nueva Ecija, shared Mendoza’s sentiment, saying that “farmers will be disadvantaged” if the government will insist on promoting the use of hybrid seeds without addressing the problems confronting farmers and the lands they till.
Why? INQUIRER.net takes a closer look.
New ‘strategy plan’
As the government decided to promote the use of hybrid seeds, Marcos said he will implement the program by providing subsidies and facilitating loan financing to farmers with the end goal of attaining rice self-sufficiency.
The DA, which is still being led by Marcos, said it is now looking at expanding production in Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Soccsksargen and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“The Ilocos [Region], Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon regions have already adopted the hybrid rice technology,” the DA said as it expressed plans to also launch a financial and credit program that will persuade farmers to shift to producing hybrid palay.
GRAPHIC Ed Lustan
Last Tuesday (Feb. 14), Marcos met with SL Agritech Corporation (SLAC) chairman and chief executive officer Henry Lim Bon Liong and farmers from Central Luzon to address the challenges in the rice industry.
READ: Marcos approves adoption of hybrid rice to boost crop yield
The SLAC, a private firm engaged in the research, development, production, and distribution of hybrid rice seeds and premium quality rice, recommended the conversion of rice farming areas from certified seeds to hybrid seeds.
It proposed to convert 1.90 million hectares of land planted with certified seeds to hybrid seeds in four years, saying that in two croppings every year, hybrid technology will give farmers a chance to earn more income.
Why the need to shift?
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said a farmer needs to be “competitive,” which means he or she should be able to sell the same quality of palay at a lower price than his or her competitors.
However, it stressed in its 2017 policy brief “Is Hybrid Rice Worth Investing In?” that “this is possible only if he or she can produce palay at lower unit cost without sacrificing quality.”
So how?
“One way to improve competitiveness,” it said, is the use of hybrid rice seeds as “this could increase yield and reduce production cost per kilogram of palay.” While hybrid rice seeds are costlier, the unit cost is lower resulting in higher income.
GRAPHIC Ed Lustan
Hybrid rice seeds are a product of two different cross-pollinated superior plants, making them perform better, especially on nutrient absorption and resistance to pests and diseases. Certified seeds, meanwhile, are made by seed growers from registered seeds.
As PhilRice said, “hybrid [rice] seeds can produce bigger yields than inbred varieties that are produced through inbreeding or the process of self-pollination.” As a result, the high yield can increase the availability of local supply.
Promising gains
Results of the 2011 to 2012 Rice-Based Farm Household Survey, showed that dry season yields from hybrid seeds were higher at 5.8 metric tons per hectare compared to high-quality seeds’ (HQS) 4.5 metric tons per hectare and low-quality seeds’ (LQS) 3.7 metric tons per hectare.
Then during the wet season, yields from hybrid seeds were also higher at 4.7 metric tons per hectare compared to HQS and LQS’ 3.9 metric tons per hectare and 3.4 metric tons per hectare, respectively.
“All wet-season yields are lower than in the dry season because of unfavorable weather.”
Likewise, for every kilogram of hybrid rice, farmers would spend only P10.96 in the dry season and P12.52 in the wet season, lower than P11.60 to P13.92 for HQS and P12.66 to P13.16 for LQS in both seasons.
As PhilRice explained, “unit cost [for rice produced from hybrid seeds] is lower because high yield compensates [for] the higher production cost.”
Based on 2012 data, hybrid palay has an average yield of 5,828.75 kilograms per hectare, resulting in a gross income of P99,088.71 if a kilogram is sold at P17. PhilRice said if the unit cost is at P10.96 a kilo, the total cost incurred will be at P63,904.84 per hectare, leaving the farmer with a net profit of P35,183.87.
This is way higher than the P24,460.12 from 4,533.20 kilograms of palay from HQS and P15,940.81 from 3,672.07 kilograms of palay from LQS as gross income will only be at P77,064.41 and P62,425.13 if a kilogram is sold at P17.
With this, PhilRice said the production of hybrid rice, “could help farmers become more competitive and earn bigger profit,” stressing that lower cost allows farmers to sell their rice at a lower price than their competitors.
Even Mendoza said yield from hybrid seeds is 20 to 30 percent higher than certified seeds, stressing that hybridization is accepted all over the world because of heterosis, where hybrids formed are more “robust or vigorous” than their parents.
‘Let PhilRice produce’
But the crop science professor said he does not agree with the way the government is promoting the use of hybrid seeds, stressing that if private seed corporations, like SLAC, would be the only ones to produce, the shift is a no-no.
“First on the financial side, their hybrid seeds are too expensive,” he said.
Based on data from PhilRice, the average seasonal cost per hectare for hybrid seeds could go as high as P47,814—seeds (P4,043), fertilizers (P8,260), pesticides (P1,735), labor (P22,591), and land (P11,185).
PhilRice had stressed some of the disadvantages of hybrid seeds, though, saying that it is really costlier than certified seeds when it comes to seeds, fertilizers, and labor because of extra care needed for seedlings, in transplanting, replanting, and weeding.
“Harvesting and threshing involve a harvest sharing payment, hence bigger yields lead to higher labor payment,” it said.
As Mendoza said, PhilRice should be the one to produce hybrid seeds, but the problem is that the research institute does not have enough resources to produce such, pointing out that PhilRice has only P5 million for breeding and development of hybrid seeds.
“That’s why I’m saying that PhilRice should be given more funding and that it should be the one to produce inbred parentals, [which will be used] in producing hybrid seeds to farmers’ cooperatives or associations,” said Mendoza.
With this, he said “the cost of seed will be reduced by half, maybe less or more.”
He told INQUIRER.net that if the government wants PhilRice to produce hybrid seeds, it should increase the research institute’s funding for the breeding and development of such to P1 billion.
“The government should allocate a budget that can match how much private companies are investing [in the breeding and development] of hybrid seeds,” Mendoza said, stressing that “if we do not do it, seed prices will ultimately increase […] farmers will be disadvantaged.”
“If we rely on the production of hybrid seeds by private companies, we will be more dependent on corporations.”
Mendoza said what Marcos said was very limited: “Why SLAC only? Other seed companies will complain and will ask ‘how about us?’. Now, let us widen the campaign, how about PhilRice? What will happen to local breeding if we do not develop it?”
“He should have talked to PhilRice first. We will never be [rice] self-sufficient if we do not trust our own farmers, our own people,” Mendoza said.
Essence of local production
But why is it important for the Philippines to breed and develop hybrid seeds locally?
As Mendoza stated in one of his studies, “heterosis, or hybrid vigour, is nature’s gift as the size, growth rate and yield of the hybrid cultivars are higher than any of the inbred counterpart[s].”
However, there are things to consider, like the adaptability of the hybrid seeds to a certain area, with the crop science professor saying that if one type of hybrid seed yielded a better harvest in Laguna, it does not necessarily mean that the same would happen in Nueva Ecija.
READ: Villar to DA: Why prefer imported hybrid rice seeds? Not all farmers can use it
“If private companies will be the ones to develop the hybrid seeds, how did they produce it? Once it arrives in the Philippines, would it be locally adaptive,” he said, sharing as an example what happened to corn farmers in Isabela.
Mendoza said there was once locally produced hybrid seeds, which corn farmers planted in Isabela. But when they ran out of seeds to grow in over 4,000 hectares, they decided to import seeds.
“The imported seeds did not grow well,” he said, stressing that as a result, farmers incurred losses, making them unable to pay their debts, most of which were used in the cultivation of the hybrid seeds.
He said this was the reason that he will only support the government’s proposal to shift towards the use of hybrid seeds if the production went through the process, like identifying if it is locally adaptive.
“Farmers should be given locally adaptive hybrid seeds,” he said.
Hybrid seeds good for organic farming
He also stressed that hybrid seeds still yield better harvest even when planted organically.
Mendoza, in his two masters’ theses, conducted a study and compared the response of various inbreds and hybrids in an organic method of farming—no chemical fertilizer and pesticide.
“What was the result? Even if it was planted and grown organically, the hybrid seeds were still able to express heterosis in terms of yield—they also had high and better grain yields,” he said.
Mendoza said that in one of his studies, the hybrids SL-8 and M-20 “exhibited a significantly higher number of field grains/panicle and slightly higher number of productive tillers.”
“It can be referred that heterosis occurred,” he said as one of the hybrids—SL-8—had up to 61 percent higher yield at 9.2 tons per hectare over the two best inbreds, RC-222 and RC 82, when planted in a double row spacing.
Likewise, in another study, which he conducted in Bay, Laguna, the hybrids M-20 and Bigante had 17 percent to 24 percent higher grain yields at 5.4 tons per hectare and 5.7 tons per hectare.