The Philippines is expected to secure a P20-billion loan from China to finance Philippines hybrid rice expansion to one million hectares to uplift farmers’ lives and reduce poverty.
Release of loan proceeds could be accelerated in time for the rainy season planting, said SL Agritech Corp. chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong, a member of the delegation accompanying President Rodrigo Duterte in his state visit to China.
“We can get a soft loan from China to fund the one million hectares of hybrid rice expansion. This is from the Chinese government,” said Lim.
The Department of Agriculture has committed to achieve rice sufficiency by expanding the country’s hybrid rice area to one million hectares.
The DA’s current budget for the expansion, however, has run out. But since hybrid rice planting is highly economically viable, a soft loan can well fund the expansion.
”It will be a fund for our agricultural development for seeds. (Anyway), that’s only $500 million.”
The dry season planting (for harvest in March-May 2017) has already started, but the DA does not have the money right now to award a seed subsidy to farmers.
“We have to capitalize on this present dry season,” said Lim.
The dry season presents the most ideal environment for hybrid rice planting as disease infestation, particularly of bacterial leaf blight, is low. The maximum photosynthetic benefit to rice plants particularly for grain filling is also achieved due to higher climatic temperature.
The DA’s subsidy has been traditionally set at 50 percent, or around P2,300 per bag (one bag per hectare) of hybrid seeds. Thus, at just half of the targeted area, or 500,000 hectares, the subsidy amounts to P1.15 billion.
Lim said SLAC had committed to produce hybrid rice seeds for 500,000 hectares.
“We (SLAC alone) have a target to supply to 500,000 hectares for the year (crop year 2016-2017, dry and wet seasons),” said Lim. “That’s possible because we have achieved 320,000 hectares the previous year.”
DA rice consultant said the DA was deliberating on the budget that might be allocated for hybrid rice.
“We may as well finance seed of farmers, or we will be importing more rice which is more expensive,” said Obien.
If government wants to help farmers who had suffered in the last dry season from hunger due to the severe impact of drought phenomenon El Niño, the timing should be immediate.
SLAC has been pushing in the last 15 years for the government support for hybrid rice expansion since at one time the country’s rice imports had skyrocketed to around P45 billion.
If hybrid rice expansion is financed, farmers’ lives are uplifted. They may earn at least P100,000 per hectare from hybrids.
“If we have one million hectares for hybrid, we will be sufficient. Beyond one million hectares, we will be an exporter,” said Lim.