Hybrids yield 35% higher than other rice varieties

MANILA, Philippines – Farmers using hybrid rice seeds posted far higher yields than those who planted inbred certified seeds during the summer crop, according to Dr. Frisco Malabanan, head of the Department of Agriculture’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla, Malabanan said that in Nueva Ecija, for instance, more than 55,000 hectares (ha) of palay fields were planted to hybrid rice in 2010 in the dry crop, with farmers harvesting an average of 7.73 metric tons (MT) per hectare.

This is 35.6 percent higher than the 5.7-ton average among farmers who planted inbred rice certified seeds in some 93,000 ha., he said, adding that this translates a profit of at least P30,000 per hectare from only P15,000 in the past.

“Hybrid rice achieves greater yields and thus farmers earn more without increasing their cultivation area,” Malabanan said.

He said “hybrid rice takes advantage of the phenomenon of hybrid vigor to achieve yields 15 percent-30 percent higher than non-hybrid (inbred) varieties.”

“Over the past three decades, the technology has helped China achieve food security, but it has not yet reached its potential in the tropics,” he said.

”Hybrid rice technology can raise the yield of rice and thus overall rice productivity and profitability in Asia,” Malabanan said. –Marianne V. Go (The Philippine Star)