Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Rice prices to increase further: agri official By Joy Romares-Sevilla
AN OFFICIAL of the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) in Southern Mindanao revealed Tuesday that prices of rice are still expected to increase following the decline in production.
In an interview, William Baranggan, provincial agricultural statistics officer of BAS Southern Mindanao, said the palay production output of the Davao Region has decreased for the first two quarters of the year and is expected to continue its decline in the next quarter.
Thus government is pushing for massive planting of high-yielding hybrid rice.
"The program of the government for rice is the hybridization program; this program doubles the harvested area of palay, but still many farmers did not accept the program since they will have to buy hybrid seeds for P2,400 and it seems that this amount it a lot to them," Baranggan told Sun.Star Tuesday.
The push for hybrid rice, however, is not gaining much support from farmers because of the high cost of seeds.
"Most of our farmers use inbred seeds because if they use these for a season, after harvest time, they can use them again. Unlike with the hybrid seeds that they have to buy for P2,400 and they cannot use for the next planting," he said.
In inbred varieties, farmers can keep a portion of their harvest as seeds for the next planting season. For hybrid rice, however, the grains produced can no longer be planted and the farmer has to buy a new batch of seeds.
The P2,400 sack is equivalent to 20 kilos of hybrid seeds and is good for one hectare of rice fields.
Still, Baranggan insists hybrid rice production can be profitable and be more beneficial to all.
Baranggan also claimed that China's rice sufficiency is because of its hybridization program. He added that farmers in the same country embraced the program but readily admitted that policies in China and the Philippines are not alike.
Meanwhile, BAS palay forecasts from January to June this year may reach 204.5 thousand metric tons, about four percent less than last year's level with harvest area projected to decrease by five percent.
"The decrease of rice production in the region may also be attributed to the conversion of rice lands to other agricultural crops, but this is only one of the reasons," Baranggan said.
In local markets in Davao City, prices of commercial rice now range from P45 to P55 per kilo.
