CANLUBANG, Laguna—Bayer Philippines Inc. inaugurated Friday an P80-million seed conditioning facility that can process as much as 3,000 metric tons of rice seeds annually.
Bayer head of seeds for Asia Pacific Amit Trikha said the facility would help boost local hybrid seeds production by 30 percent annually, increasing the availability to farmers for better yield.
“More than anything, this infrastructure is dedicated to improve the quality of seeds. This conditioning line of Bayer will be kind of self-sufficient also. Before there was dependency on India, but with this new capacity there will be more flexibility to supply the needs for market,” he said.
The company’s seed production operations is entirely focused in Mindanao.
Bayer is producing about 150 to 200 MT of hybrid seeds locally from 120 hectares, a combination of five hybrid varieties—Arize Bigante, Arize Bigante Plus, Arize Habilis, Arize Habilis Plus, and the premium Arize AZ 7888.
The company contributes approximately 30 percent of total hybrid seeds supply in the Philippines. With the seed conditioning line, the company expects to augment production by another 30 percent.
Bayer crop science division head for seeds in the Philippines Reecher Ondap disclosed plans to move away from the traditional production site in Mindanao to Luzon.
“We’re scouting for more areas where we can establish new seeds plantation. There are locations in Luzon that we are eyeing now,” he said.
Bayer, meanwhile, expressed concern on an imminent increase in the price of seeds due to highern logistics cost, especially fuel.
Bayer’s mother unit plans to develop the Philippines as the rice seed production hub in Southeast Asia.
The company in 2017 opened a P40-million rice breeding facility in Calauan, Laguna where it can pursue experimental initiatives to improve and create new hybrid seed varieties that are disease-resistant and climate change-ready.
The hectarage planted to hybrid seeds, according to the Department of Agriculture, is estimated at 500,000 hectares. The agency plans to increase the coverage to 1 million hectares within the tenure of President Rodrigo Duterte.