Hybrid o Inbred? Depende sa lugar at budget.

 Hybrid or Inbred?

Should A Senator Dictate

What Rice Seeds To Plant?

Ayaw ko sanang makisawsaw sa isyu na ito but Senator Cynthia Villar is grossly mis-informed about the Hybrid Rice Program.

I saw the video coverage of the budget hearing of the Dept. of Agriculture where as Senate Agriculture Chairman, Villar questioned the proposed importation of Hybrid Rice Seeds.

She said DA should buy from local growers the Inbred Seeds or open-pollinated rice varieties.

Since nobody could interrupt Senator Villar during her monologues, let me just help clarify this issue through this post.

First, not all hybrid seeds are imported.

Henry Lim Bon Liong plants his hybrid seeds in Banaybanay, Davao Oriental while PhilRice had developed public hybrids.

Yes, there are many imported Hybrid Rice Seeds like Seedworks' TH82 which could be planted in dryland but Henry's SLH series are the most popular hybrids.

Second, hybrid seeds outperform inbred seeds in production volume from 2 to 4 metric tons per hectare.

In Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, outstanding rice farmer Danilo Bolos harvests as much as 16 metric tons with his SLH8 hybrid.

The best performance of an Inbred Rice Seed Variety using the best.farming practice is 8 to 10 metric tons.

Mahal daw ang hybrid at P3,500 per bag compared to P1,200 per bag of Inbred seeds or.a savings of P2,300.

Hindi nila naisip na kung aani ng 10 metric tons ang Hybrid at 6 metric tons ang Inbred, sa presyong P14 per kilo, kikita ang Hybrid Rice farmer ng P140,000 samantalang ang nagtanim ng Inbred Seeds ay kikita lamang ng P84,000.

That is a difference of P56,000 at ang dahilan na hind ito inabot ng Inbred Rice farmer ay dahil nagtipid sya ng P2,300.

So, the question is: Ano ba ang objective ng Rice Program?

Is it not to increase rice production?

The hardworking and honest technical people of DA are made to appear before the Senate hearings like a bunch of fools who do not know what they are doing.

They are not even given the chance to explain. Worse still, they are berated and humiliated.

Alam ng mga DA Rice Experts ang ginagawa nila.

When I was Agriculture Secretary, we conducted a National Rice Derby which demonstrated the performance of all rice varieties, both Inbred and Hybrid in different locations all over the country.

Wala ni isang inbred variety ang nakalagpas sa production volume ng hybrid.

Rice seeds are location specific and because of the National Rice Derby alam na ng mga rice experts ng DA kung aling binhi ang itatanim sa specific area para mataas ang ani.

Not all rice areas could be planted to hybrids just as not all Inbred Rice varieties would perform well in all areas.

Pati ba naman binhi ng palay na itatanim, Senador pa rin ang magdesisyon? 

Batas at mga polisiya ang ayusin ninyo at hwag nyo na pakialaman yong bagay na hindi nyo alam dahil hindi naman kayo nakapagtanim ng palay sa maputik na linang.

#LetFarmersPlant!