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By Maria Leah J. Baroña
(To feed more than 80 million people, the
Philippines has had to import about 625,000 tons of rice each year
since 1983. The population continues to grow, but arable land area
is shrinking. To fill the growing gap, the government has turned to
hybrid rice technology. But farmers have not exactly jumped on the
hybrid rice bandwagon. This second installment offers an explanation
why.)
The Philippines is setting hybrid rice for
commercialization for the first time. The technology requires a
method of farm management that is different from what rice farmers
are used to. Seed production itself involves a quite complicated
procedure.
Hybrid rice seeds are produced by a three-line
system. This involves lines of rice: a cytoplasmic male sterile or
CMS line (also called seed parent, female parent or A line), a
maintainer or B line, and a restorer or R line (also called the male
parent). The A and B lines are crossed to maintain or multiply the A
line. Then the A and R lines are crossed, the R line restoring
fertility to the A line, to produce hybrid seeds.
The synchronization of the flowering of the two
parents is crucial, as well as supplementary pollination activities
when the wind is not strong enough to carry pollen across to the
female parent. According to Dr. Frisco Malabanan of the GMA Rice
Program, seed growers usually need at least two to three cropping
seasons to perfect the seed production process. This is the common
reason why first-time seed growers hesitate to venture into hybrid
seed production.
Farmer resistance
Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, executive director of
PhilRice, looks at hybrid rice as a good medium for technology
promotion. “Because this is a new technology … the farmers tend
to ask questions and be more careful with their management. With
hybrid rice they are more careful, aalagaan nila yung seed kasi
mahal (they will take care of the seed because it is
expensive).”
He believes that hybrid rice [technology] will
also give farmers an opportunity to incorporate other
yield-enhancing and cost-saving technologies in rice farming, such
as using less seeds, and proper fertilizer application, pest
management and postharvest practices.
Dr. Wilfredo P. David, professor and chancellor
of UP Los Baños, says however, that farmers must not be expected to
change their farming practices to accommodate a technology that has
not been tested well.
When it comes to adoption of new technologies,
Dr. Desiree Hautea of the Institute of Plant Breeding, UPLB, says
that in general, Filipino farmers are open to innovation, “but
they do not want to take too much risks.” She further says that
the shift from inbred rice to hybrid rice technology will be adopted
if the farmers are convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks.
“I think the farmers are waiting to see more definitive
results.”
As Dr. William Padolina, deputy director general
for partnerships in IRRI and a member of the board of trustees of
PhilRice, says, “There is a lot of convenience that is enjoyed by
the farmers in using inbreds in that they can save the seeds and
they just plant the seed that they save.” Of course saved seeds
also have a cost and their seed quality is not usually good.
Consistency of yield
The yield potential of hybrid rice comes from a
phenomenon called heterosis or hybrid vigor. But is heterosis
guaranteed at constant levels under varying field conditions?
Dr. David says that the bulk of evidence shows
that hybrid vigor can be manifested only under certain
agro-ecological conditions. Similarly, inbred HYVs also manifest
their potential under certain agro-ecological and management
conditions.
The question of seed purity worries farmers like
Mang Gringo, who feels that the hybrids seeds he bought may not have
been tested, or may have been past their dormancy because they had
to be tested first at the BPI in Laguna.
Dr. Santiago Obien, former executive director of
PhilRice, admits that the protocol for this has not been fully set,
and that the seed producers are responsible for ensuring the quality
and purity of the seeds against their respective labels. The only
way to determine contamination (i.e. with pollen from another
variety) within a seed, he says, is by DNA testing.
Every cropping season, a farmer must buy a whole
new batch of hybrid rice seeds, which cost P120 per kilo. The hybrid
is recommended for transplanting, however, and PhilRice prescribes
only 20-40 kilos per hectare.
Using inbred varieties, on the other hand,
requires 80-150 kilos (up to 300 kilos in some places in Luzon) of
seeds per hectare. The common method used by farmers in planting
inbreds is direct seeding or sabog tanim, for which farmers usually
use the seeds they saved from the previous crop. When they do need
to buy inbred seeds, farmers can get them for as low as P18-P30 per
kilo.
“Nagdadalawang isip yung iba kasi mahal. Mahal
na, di mo pa pwedeng itanim ulit (Some farmers are having second
thoughts because aside from being expensive, the seeds cannot be
used for re-planting),” says Mr. Ramos.
Higher costs
Dr. Padolina cautions that the price of the seed
makes up only a small percentage of the total cost of production.
Transplanting will demand additional labor and therefore added
expense. Depending on the size of a grower’s farm, the 15 to
20-percent yield advantage of hybrid rice over the best inbred
varieties may not be enough to offset the costs. “You have really
to watch your management practices, make sure that you manage your
pests, your inputs, water, fertilizer, pesticide carefully so that
at least you can recover what you spent,” he explained. At this
stage, hybrid rice is recommended for those farmers who are
transplanting their inbreds, therefore, extra cost of transplanting
of hybrid rice should not be an issue, says Dr. Sant Virmani, deputy
head of the Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry Division of
IRRI.
Mang Gringo seems to agree. “Maski angat ng 15
percent, maraming gastos. Parang di kumikita. (Although it has a
yield advantage of 15 percent, with the additional expenses it
doesn’t seem to be profitable).” For his 400-square meter
seedbed, he hires 15 workers at P160 per day each to pull out
seedlings and 10 workers at P200 per day each to plant the
seedlings. He also uses eight sacks of organic fertilizer at P200
per sack for his seedbed. Using direct seeding for inbreds, he does
not need this much additional labor.
His workers, on the other hand, have been
complaining that the hybrid seeds are matinik (prickly) on one end,
hurting their hands so much that they are not able to work for more
than two days straight.
While there have been a number of documented
success stories, not every farmer who has tried hybrid rice has seen
a significant difference that would make him ditch the inbreds in
favor of the promising rookie.
As president of his farmers’ group, however,
Mang Gringo still promotes the hybrid to his fellow rice farmers.
“Kaya nga pag nag-meeting kami maraming nagagalit. Talagang hindi
nag-click dito. (That’s why many get angry during our meetings. It
just didn’t go off well with us.)”
Susceptibility to disease
Mestizo is susceptible to bacterial leaf blight
during the wet season. While two new resistant hybrid varieties are
making their way into the farm, PhilRice has been giving technical
briefings on leaf blight management.
Another El Niño episode is likely to develop
during the last quarter of this year, according to the forecasts.
Mr. Ramos beams, “Sa dry season kami nakakasigurado, at malakas
ang loob namin gawa ng El Niño. (The returns are good in the dry
season, that’s why we feel confident because of the coming El Niño).”
But Dr. David warns that while a dry spell will keep blight away,
farmers without good irrigation will have neither crop nor blight.
Dr. Padolina thinks that there are still a lot
of improvements that can be done with the present hybrid strains,
not only on their yield advantage but also on their resistance to
pests and disease and maybe less water requirement.
Further, Mang Gringo claims that hybrid tillers
are sensitive to the wind. “Pag nilagyan ng urea, tapos biglang
hinangin, tatamaan na ng blast yan maski anong gawin (When I apply
urea and the winds come, the crop gets infected with rice blast).”
During the previous dry season, he harvested only 60 cavans per
hectare from his blast-ridden hybrid crop, compared to 100 cavans
per hectare from his inbreds.
(To be continued)
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