Happy & Deservedly Prosperous Farmers Philippines – Can Hybrid Rice Cultivate Them?

 

Hybrid rices are known to be high yielders, producing grains much, much more than inbred rices. If the growing of hybrid rice is sustainable, let’s do it! Well, is it? Let’s see!

First, here are 9 hybrid rice companies in the Philippines in my list so far:

a)  Advanta Limited

b)  Bayer CropScience

c)  Bioseed Research Philippines

d)  East West Seeds

e)  Long Ping Hi-Tech

f)   Metahelix Life Sciences

g)  Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines

h)  SL Agritech

i)   Syngenta Philippines.

Among those, my question is: “Whose hybrid rice is sustainable in the growing?”
(“Golden Rice” image[1] from Businessmirror.com.ph)

My “sustainable growing” is original. I refer to these 4 characteristics:

1)    Technically feasible –
The hybrid rice variety grows exactly as specified by the company that has bred it. The yield is high as it produces many tillers and the tillers are very productive of panicles. This is crucial, because it is the tillers that produce the panicles – and therefore the grains. The high yield is also predicated on the adequate distance of planting between hills. (I know that it is only the first generation, F1, that delivers the yield as promised by the company; the yield of the F2 is lower.)

2)    Environmentally sound –
The growing of the rice variety does not imperil or endanger the environment in terms of perpetuity or sustainability. At the very least, its cultivation should not result in soil degradation. The natural fertility of the soil should be replenished every growing season.

3)    Socially acceptable –
Nobody has any objection to the variety from seed to seed. The grains are acceptable for cooking and for eating.

4)    Economically viable –
The total cost of production is recovered when the grains are sold, with neat profit showing. This happens every growing season.

The 4thcharacteristic I would like to elaborate further. I’m looking for a hybrid whose seasonal growing continues to give good yield; the higher the yield, the better. The system of growing is crucial too. It is necessary that in growing that hybrid rice, the farmer is able to save on costs – unlike when he is planting inbred rice, as has been the case since time immemorial! Technology must give way to Economics. Fertilizers, pesticides, farm mechanization all considered. Cost-saving is to ensure that the farmer profits much from his farming. As much as possible, over several growing seasons, the monetary rewards from planting hybrid for the farmer should enable him to slowly but surely set free his family from the shackles of poverty – and stay free!

Mr or Miss Hybrid Rice Company, here is something else you have to do – again, this is my original idea:

When you sell your hybrid rice, teach the farmer how to save on costs, from planting to drying.

Sell your hybrid seeds on credit, requiring a prior contract of the farmer with a consumer, always a contract consumer to buy.

Thus, Mr or Miss, will your package of growing your hybrid rice surely result in Filipino farmers getting rich, richer, richest. If not? Rice meeting you!@517


[1]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2018/03/05/government-needs-to-increase-its-palay-support-price-but-by-how-much/

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