H ind i impos ib leng makamit o ma-attain ng Pilipinas ang maging supis-yente sa bigas “kung patuloy lamang isasakatuparan ng pamahalaan ang mga maga-gandang programa nito sa ikauunlad ng agrikultura sa ating bansa, pangunahin na ang produksyon sa bigas.”

“Masakit isipin na noong 1976, nagsimula tayong mag-export ng bigas sa ibang bansa dadapwa’t hangga ngayon, simula pa ng taong 1985, wala na tayong tigil ng kaaangkat ng nasabing pagkain sa Viet-nam, Thailand at US na dito ay gumagastos tayo ng bilyon-bil-yong piso taon-taon,” ani Joel

Karamihan sa magsasaka sa Nueva Ecija ang nangangailan-gan ng mas malaking pautang mula sa mga cooperative bank para hindi na nila maisangla pa ang sinasaka nilang bukid sa mga institusyong pinansyal sa pangamba nilang marimata o mailit ang mga ito kung hindi nila mabayaran ang kani-ka-nilang pagkakautang.

Ito ang pangamba na kanil-ang inilahad sa isang consulta-tive meeting on agricultural

development para sa Nueva Ecija na dinaluhan ng mga magsasaka mula sa iba’t ibang bayan sa sa nasabing lalawigan.

Ang pagpupulong ay kalakip sa programa ng House Commit-tee on Agriculture sa pamumuno ni Rep. Abraham B. Mitra,

Dumalo rin sa pagpupulong na ginanap sa amphithreater ng Kapitolyo ng Palayan City sina Rep. Robert Raymundo, Rep. Leonila Chavez, Rep.

(Sundan sa pahina 11)

Supisyente sa bigas

hindi imposible

(Sundan sa pahina 11)

Parami na ng parami sa mga magsasaka sa probinsya ng Ca-gayan ang naniwala na, na sa pagtatanim ng hybrid rice ay aani sila ng mas higit sa dati nilang inaani na inbred rice.

Isa sa kanila na nakapanayam kamakailan ng field agent ng SL Agritech Corp., ay si Jimmy Orata ng Barangay J. Olioas sa bayan ng Camalaniugan, na ayon sa kanya ay ang desisyon niyang magtanim ng SL-8H hybrid rice ang pinakamagandang disisyon na nagawa niya sa kanyang bu-hay.

“Utang ko sa Dios, una sa lahat, ang pag-angat ng aming ka-buhayan simula nang magtanim ako ng SL-8H hybrid rice da-lawang taon na ang nakalilipas,” sabi ni Mang Jimmy, na bakas sa kanyang mukha ang kasiyahan.

Sinabi ni Mang Jimmy na ang kanyang pangarap sa kanyang pamilya na umangat ang kabu-hayan ay unti-unti ng natutupad dahil sa pagtatanim niya ng hy-brid rice sa kanyang sinasakang

PAGTATANIM NG SL-8H HYBRID RICE

‘Pinakamagandang desisyongnagawa ko bilang magsasaka’

Ni JOH DUNGCA

(Sundan sa pahina 11)Sakay si Mang Jimmy sa tricycle na kanyang nabili na pinalagyan niya sa likuran nito ng katagang “Katas ng SL-8H.”

Kailangan ng magsasaka sa bansaMAS MALAKING PAUTANG

(Turn to page 6)

By SANNY GALVEZ

Hybrid varietiescan make RP self-sufficient in rice

Page 3

Rice farmers can be millionaires

Page 5

SL Agritech Hybrid Rice

FestivalsPages 6 & 7

RP urged to copyChina’s examplein producing rice

Page 8

Gov. Umali pushes hybridrice to Nueva Ecija farmers

Nueva Ecija Governor Aurelio Umali is urg-ing rice farmers in the province to plant high-yielding rice seed varieties “to move our pro-vince further towards economic prosperity.”

“Magkaisa nating i-angat ang antas ng agrikultura sa ating lala-wigan sa pagtatanim ng mataas na uri ng palay kagaya ng kasalukuyan ninyong tinatanim,” Umali told farmer-members of the Nagkakaisang Magsasaka Multi-Purpose Cooperative (NMMPC) in Barangay Taba-cao in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, during a rice harvest festival sponsored last April 8, by SL Agritech Corp.

“Dapat kasama tayo (Nueva Ecija) sa solusyon sa problema at hindi ang maging problema kagaya sa kasalukuyang hinaharap ng ating bansa na may kinalaman sa bigas,” he said.

HARVEST FESTIVAL – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali (2nd from right), leads the guests during a hybrid rice festival in Talavera, NE sponsored by SL Agritech Corp. Others in photo are former Rep. Renato Diaz, former PhilRice director Santiago Obien and Ricardo Buenaventura, president of the Nagkakaisang Magsasaka Multi-Purpose Cooperative. Similar festivals were sponsored by SL Agritech last April in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija; Sta. Cruz, Occidental Min-doro; Hinunangan, Southern Leyte; Madrid, Surigao del Norte; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur and in Kanangga, Leyte.

TALAVERA, Nueva Eci-ja – It’s a year like no other for rice farmers in Nueva Ecija, the country’s rice bowl.

“We are very happy. Our harvest is good and the buy-ing price of palay (unhusked rice) is really high, and this happened only now,” said Ri-cardo Buenaventura, chair of the Nagkakaisang Magsasaka Agricultural Primary Mul-tipurpose Cooperative Inc., (NMAPMCI) in Barangay Tabacao here.

In a program during the NMAPMCI’s harvest festival sponsored by SL Agritech Corp., Buenaventura said their average yield was up to 180 cavans (nine tons) a hectare, with some farmers

GOOD HARVEST, HIGH PRICESBy ANSELMO ROQUE

(Turn to page 10)

voL. 2 No. 12 PUBLISHED EvERY SECoND MoNTH BY SL AGRITECH CoRP. jUNE-jULY 2008

DIALOGUE ON RICE -- Former food minister Jesus T. Tanchanco (from left), Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras, SL Agritech Corp. chairman and CEO Henry Lim, and PhilRice executive director Leocadio Se-bastian, discuss the rice issue during the Hybrid Rice Festival held recently at the 200-hectare farm cluster of the Bagong Buhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija.

GINTONG BUTIL jUNE-jULY2

golden grain

sanny galvez

'Subukan muna nilang magtanim'

Two non-government organizations, Rice Watch and Ac-tion Network and Centro Saka, are against the planting of hybrid rice which, according to them, is “one-use only” and much costlier for the farmers to produce.

What these swivel-chair critics do not perhaps want to ac-cept is while planting hybrid rice costs more, its yield naman per hectare is double or three times higher than the traditional or inbred rice seeds variety.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has disregarded their argument kaya ang pinakamagaling, ang sabi nga ni Aida Badong, a lady farmer from Camarines who, in 2005 made a record harvest of 344 cavans per hectare planting the SL-8H hybrid rice seeds variety, “subukan muna nilang magtanim ng hybrid rice para ma-experience din nila. Kaya nila na-sasabi yung mga negatibong bagay na ‘yan kasi hindi pa nila nasusubukan. Nakikinig lamang sila siguro sa sabi-sabi.”

-o0o-My good friend former Ifugao congressman and governor

Gualberto “Bert” Lumauig, is one of the strongest advocates of hybrid rice farming.

(Bert by the way, is now a rice farmer in his hometown in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao. His 25-hectare riceland in Barangay San Juan near Magat Dam, is planted to SL-8H hybrid rice.)

He criticized the objections to the planting of hybrid rice as “a product of ignorance and indolence by farmer-advocates planting traditional rice varieties.”

Insisting on the old ways, he said, will not solve the mounting shortfall in our rice production in relation to our population growth because “we are stuck in producing a volume level permitted only by traditional methods and rice varieties.”

Sabi nga niya, at ito rin ang paniwala ni Henry Lim, the chairman and CEO of SL Agritech Corp., kung majority nga lang daw ng mga traditional o inbred rice farmers will go hybrid, we can expect, he said, a bumper harvest of palay in the coming years and ensure self-sufficiency in our rice supply.

-o0o-Members of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ)

visited recently the 40-hectare hybrid rice research center and demo farm of SL Agritech Corp. in Barangay Oogong in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. The firm is the country’s top producer of SL-8H hybrid rice seeds variety.

Henry Lim, the firm’s Big Boss, and his vice president for research and development, Dr. Weijun Xu, briefed them on how the hybrid rice technology was transferred to the Philip-pines; how the technology made China, considered the most populous nation on planet earth (1.3 billion), self-sufficient in the staple; who is Prof. Yuan Long Ping, acknowledged as the “Father of hybrid rice” in China; etc. etc.

-o0o-From SL Agritech after a sumptuous lunch courtesy of Mr.

Lim, the group proceeded to SEARCA in Los Banos, Laguna, to attend a symposium organized by the PAJ Calabarzon chapter. The occasion highlighted the election of its new officers again headed by PAJ vice president for external affairs, Dr. Deng Maunahan of the UP Los Banos.

My sincerest congrats to you all.

editorial

STAFF

SANNY GALVEZEditor-in-Chief

JOSEPHINE E. DUNGCA Managing Editor

Contributing Editors:Rudy A. Fernandez

Conrad CariñoDr. Sosimo Ma. Pablico

Jenny Ng

Viktor Peñas Carlo CaluagPhotographers

Carmina Cruz Jivin Relato

Graphic ArtistsGintong Butil is published every two months by SL Agritech Corp.,

a division of Sterling Group of Companies, with editorial andbusiness offices at 2302 Sterling Place, Pasong Tamo Ext.,

Makati City. Telefax No. 810-1604

The measures and interven-tions that the Department of Agriculture (DA) is carrying out in the nation’s drive to intensify rice production must include “a redirection of concepts and val-ues on the planting of rice.”

It is ironical that for an ag-ricultural or agri-based country like the Philippines, farming, particularly rice farming, has been regarded as the occupa-tion, mostly, of the poor.

And in other countries, like Australia, France, the United States, and now in China, Thai-land, and Vietnam, farming is a richman’s occupation.

The culprit, perhaps, is in the “wrong” translation of the originally Tagalog song on rice planting titled “Magtanim ay Di Biro,” an English version of which, “Planting Rice is Never Fun,” had been produced, and recorded, and even taught to all the batches of young students while they were still young, for as long as anyone can re-member.

Its meaning – that planting rice is never fun – has been accepted, not just through the years, but through the decades, and even up to another century, and its English meaning – that is glaringly distorted – has been deeply ingrained in the Filipino

Planting rice was never fun

LET THIS NoTIoN BE FoRGoTTEN

By ISAAC KLIATCHKO JR.

culture.In agriculture, or farming,

“fun” is experienced and ex-pressed in the gains, or returns, or income, or profit derived from the mix of hard work, skills, and technology in the planting of rice, or rice farm-ing.

Which is why work is en-joyed.

But if by planting rice, throughout his lifetime, a farm-er becomes even poorer, that his sons and daughters look for other means of livelihood, and even despise farming (pagsa-saka) and none of his children had decided to follow his fa-ther’s and ancestor’s footsteps, planting rice – here in the Phil-ippines – is indeed the work of the lowly farmer, and would never, never be fun.

Just a couple of months ago, newly harvested palay – or skin-dry grain – was being sold by the lowly farmers for as low as P6 a kilo, when there were many sellers.

Now that palay will be bought – per kilo – by as much as P17, many people in the countryside have started clean-ing their araro, panglinang, and other tools and instruments used in planting rice.

(Turn to page 8)

GINTONG BUTILjUNE-jULY 11

‘Pinakamagandang desisyongnagawa ko bilang magsasaka’13 ekyarya.

“Dati akong nagtatanim ng inbred rice, ang RC-18 at IR-64, pero ang laging ani ko noon ay nasa 80 cavanes lamang kada ektarya. Pero nang nagtanim na ako ng SL-8H hybrid, ang laging ani ko ay mahigit 180 cavanes kada ektarya,” sabi niya.

Sinabi pa niya na dahil sa pagtatanim niya ng hybrid rice, nakabili siya ng dalawa pang ektaryang lupa.

“Napagtapos din namin ang aming anak na babae sa kolehiyo

(Mula sa pahina 12) ng kursong Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) at nakabili pa ako ng tricycle na naipang-hahanap-buhay namin,” dugto pa niya.

Nagpadala si Mang Jimmy ng litrato ng kanyang tricycle kung saan sa likod ng nasabing sasakyan ay nakasulat ang katagang “Katas ng SL-8H.”

“Gusto ko lang ipakita at ipagmalaki sa kapwa ko magsasa-ka sa aming lugar na sa pagtatanim ng SL-8H hybrid rice ay talagang aani ng malaki at isa lamang itong tricycle na magiging ‘katas’ ng

kanilang kikitain,” sabi pa niya.Sa kinikita niya sa pagsasaka,

sinabi ni Mang Jimmy na bibili pa siya ng mga gamit pangsaka kagaya ng hand tractor at thresh-ing machine.

Ayon sa Ginintuang Masa-ganang Ani (GMA) hybrid rice program ng Department of Agri-culture, ang pagtatanim ng hybrid rice sa buong bansa ay “nagpa-pakita ng magandang paglago” mula sa Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Leyte, Davao del Norte at Isabela.

Supisyente sa bigas

hindi imposible(Mula sa pahina 12)

(Mula sa pahina 12)

G. del Rosario, dating branch manager ng isang bangko sa Quezon City.

Sinabi ni Del Rosario na “talagang nakapagtataka kung bakit hangga ngayon ay nag-iimport tayo ng bigas. Kung sabagay, may kasabihan, mas madaling bumili kaysa mag-tanim. Pero please naman…”

“Problema ba natin ang itatanim na uri ng palay para lumaki ang ating aanihin? Palagay ko, hindi. Problema ba natin ang malalawak na bukirin para pag-anihan ng malaki? Palagay ko, hindi rin. Nandiyan ang hybrid rice, malakas makapag-ani. Bukid, marami tayong bakanteng bukid. Ang tutuong problema, wala tayong political will. Puro lang tayo umpisa. Pag-katapos na ang isang proyekto halimbawa sa pagsasaka ay maumpisahan at ma-diaryo na, kalimutan na,” ayon pa rin kay Del Rosario.

“Ang pagtulong sa mga magsasaka, kung maisipan lang kaya hangga ngayon, karamihan sa kanila, pulubi pa rin,” dagdag pa niya.

Rody Antonino at Rep. Czarina “Cherry” D. Umali.

Ayon sa ilang magsasaka, ang malaking problema nila at malaking problema rin ng mga magsasaka sa buong bansa, “kung saan sila makakautang ng malaki-laki at magaang bayaran (easy credit) para matustusan nila ang kani-ka-nilang pangangailangan sa pagsasaka.

“Sa katunayan, napipili-

tan kaming mangutang sa mga osurero na napakalaki ng tubong pinapatong sa aming utang. Wala kaming magagawa, kung hindi, hindi kami mapagtatanim at si-yempre, wala kaming aanihin,” pahayag nila.

May pagkataon pa, ayun din sa kanila, na pagkatapos na pagkatapos nilang umani, lalu pa’t maliit na lupain lamang ang kanilang sinasaka, wala na silang gagastusin sa mga susunod na

buwan at mapipilitan na naman silang umutang sa susunod na taniman.

Kamakailan, nagpahayag si Jaro Arch. Angel Lagdameo, pangulo ng Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) “na ang matagal na pagpapabaya sa mga maliliit na magsasaka ang dapat sisi-hin sa kasalukuyang krisis sa bigas na hinaharap ng ating bansa.”

Kailangan ng magsasaka sa bansa

BINISITA kamakailan ng mga miyembro ng Philippine Agricultural Journal-ists (PAJ) ang 40 ektaryang hybrid rice research and demonstration farm ng SL Agritech Corp. sa Brgy. Oogong sa Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Nasa larawan, mula sa kaliwa: Dr. Zhang Zhaodong, executive VP for research and operations ng kompanya; Johnny Goloyugo, IRRI; Max Balleteros; Conrad Carino,

Manila Times, Jenny Ng, Business Mirror; Henry Lim, chairman at CEO ng SL Agritech, Inez Magbual, Channel 9; Rudy Fernandez, Philippine Star ; Ruby Lumongsod, Quedancor; Cora Abio, NFA; Dr. Deng Maunahan, UP Los Baños; at Sanny Galvez, Manila Bulletin.

MAS MALAKING PAUTANG

GINTONG BUTIL jUNE-jULY10

harvesting 225 cavans (11.25 tons) per hectare or more planting the SL-8H hybrid rice variety.

The farm gate buying prices of P17.20 a kilogram of fresh palay and P18.20 or higher per kilogram for the slightly dried palay were “unprecedented,” he said.

“Our members’ income more than doubled. In the past, their net income was only P25,000 to P30,000 per hectare, but this has improved to between P60,000 and P90,000,” Buenaventura said.

The NMAPMCI, which was formed in the early 90s, has more than 1,000 regular and associate members. It is one of the few successful cooperatives in Nueva Ecija.

With the good harvest, farmer Allan Buenaventura, a NMAPM-CI member, has started planning for a trip to Hongkong as reward from his Italy-based aunt, who owns the 18-hectare rice farm he is managing.

“I am averaging 191 cavans (9.55 tons) per hectare from part of the total production area I am managing,” Buenaventura, a 2004 business management graduate, said during the program.

“We used to average 168 cavans only,” he said.

He said only about 30 percent of the 18-hectare farm he has been managing has been harvested.

His average harvest was ex-pected to increase as some of their rice lands were yielding at least 204 cavans per hectare.

“We are getting an average net income of P115,000 per hect-are,” he said.

Two other NMAPMCI mem-bers, Yolanda Serrano, a former overseas worker, and Romulo Domingo, also gave testimonies about their good harvest and high net income.

Serrano and Domingo said rice farming was never so good for them as this year.

Gov. Aurelio Umali, who attended the event, said Nueva Ecija was “estimating a harvest of 75,000 metric tons of palay this season.

“Only 30 percent of this will be for our consumption in the

GOOD HARVEST, HIGH PRICES(From page 1)

province and the rest will be sup-plied to non-rice producing areas in the country,” he said.

Umali said to cushion the ef-fects of high prices of milled rice to poor residents, his office, in coordination with the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council,

will sell rice at subsidized prices to residents of the 50 poorest vil-lages in the province.

He said they were drawing up the mechanics for this program that would be implemented in the lean months.

Serafin Santos, Nueva Ecija

agriculturist, said they were happy that farmers could now sell their palay at higher prices.

More than 99,000 rice farm-ers in Nueva Ecija, farm 256,618 hectares of irrigated and rain-fed areas.

In the latest cropping season, some farmers in Talavera and Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, who planted the SL-8H hybrid rice variety also average 180 cavans per hectare.

Lim asked the government with media’s support, to inten-sify its information program to increase farmers’ awareness on the potentials of hybrid rice.

As it is, he said, more than 90 percent of the country’s farmers have not chosen to plant hybrid rice for one reason or another.

Moreover, there are those who continue to criticize the hy-brid rice program.

Lim did not elaborate but from this corner’s observations, the disparaging words came from the usual government critics and from farmers themselves who tried the technology but failed because they did not meticulously follow the recommendations in

growing hybrid rice.Once, a Southeast Asian

group accused the government of implementing the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program “even in the absence of proofs that it does increase farmers’ yields.”

A daily newspaper also had headlined a news report brand-ing hybrid rice as “fit only for animals.”

But the “swivel-chair critics” conveniently glossed over suc-cess stories.

“Hybrid rice production is not a lazy man’s job,” outstand-ing San Mateo (Isabela) hybrid rice farmer Honorato Maningas stressed when interviewed by researchers Imelda Olvida, Cha-risma Love Gado, and Salembai Abdullah of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Re-search Institute (DA-PhilRice).

“Some of them (other farm-ers) are lazy, stubborn, and impa-

tient,” he said.San Mateo farmer Flor Ra-

mento also volunteered” “My highest yield in inbred rice was only 120 cavans per hectare. With hybrid, my highest yield was 180 cavans per hectare. From my profit, I was able to buy farm machines. More important, my children finished schooling (ac-counting and nursing) through my earnings from hybrid rice.

Down south, Renerio Gue-varra of Digos City, Davao del Sur, told PhilRice: “As long as I use hybrid rice, I get a yield of at least 13 tons per hectare.

Badong also advised: ”Mas maganda siguro kung subukan muna nilang (critics) magtanim ng hybrid rice para ma-experience din nila. Kaya siguro nila nasasabi yung mga negatibong bagay na 'yan kasi hindi pa nila nasusubu-kan. Nakikinig lamang sila siguro sa sabi-sabi.”

Hybrid varieties can make RP self-sufficient in rice

(From page 3)

HAPPY FAMILY – Ricardo Buenaventura (left), president of the Nagkakaisang Magsasaka Multi-Purpose Coopera-tive in Barangay Tabacao in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, poses

with the members of his family who, he said, are very happy with the good harvest they made with the SL-8H hybrid rice seeds of SL Agritech Corp.

GINTONG BUTIL 3jUNE-jULY

STA. CRUZ, Laguna – At least 800,000 hectares planted to hybrid rice (HR) can make the Philippines self-sufficient in this cereal.

This was asserted by Henry Lim Bon Li-ong, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of SL Agritech Corp., the country’s top hybrid rice seeds producer.

SL Agritech main-tains a 40-hectare re-search and demonstra-tion (R&D) farm at Ba-rangay Oogong in this capital town situated about 100 kilometers southeast of Manila. It also has 200-ha. production area in Lupon, Davao Oriental and another 100 hectares in Tabuk, Kalinga.

Lim stressed hybrid rice’s

Hybrid varietiescan make RP self-sufficient in rice By RUDY A. FERNANDEZ

potential in making the country self-sufficient in this crop to officers of the Philippine Agri-cultural Journalists (PAJ) who

visited SL Agritech’s R&D farm here recently.

At present, according to go-vernment statistics, average yield from inbred (ordinary) rice vari-

eties is only 2.8 tons per hectare. Average yield of a hybrid rice variety is 6.5 t/ha.

Of the country’s 4.2-hectare farmlands devoted to rice, only about 300,000 hectares are planted to hybrid varieties.

The country is ex-pected to produce 17.3 million metric tons of palay (11.2 million met-ric tons milled rice) this year but the requirement is 12.1 million metric tons.

Lim told the agri-culture journalists that those planting the three percent – SL-8H hybrid

rice variety bred by his corpora-tion have averaged eight to 10 metric tons per hectare. But there are exceptional farmers who have been harvesting much more.

One is Adelaida Badong of Baao, Camarines Sur, who reaped 344 cavans per hectare in 2005. Another, Fernando Gabuyo of San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, pro-duced 335 cavans per hectare.

Once, Lim told the journal-ists, a team of SL Agritech, while on to Cagayan Valley, spotted a tricycle bearing a small streamer on which were emblazoned the words “Katas ng SL-8H.” When interviewed, the driver, Jimmy Orata, said he had earned from planting the hybrid rice variety enough to buy two tricycles and to purchase two more hectares of ricefields to add up to his original two hectares.

But a few others have become millionaires because of hybrid rice. Example is a young farmer who netted P115,000/ha. in his 18-ha. farm.

(Turn to page 10)

According to government sta-tistics, average yield from in-

bred (ordinary) rice varieties is

only 2.8 tons per hectare. Average yield of a hybrid

rice variety is 6.5 t/ha.

GINTONG BUTIL jUNE-jULY4

GINTONG BUTILjUNE-jULY 9

GINTONG BUTIL jUNE-jULY8The Philippines would do

well to take a cue from China, which has been able to produce enough rice to feed its more than one billion population through massive planting of hybrid rice, said SL Agritech Corp. chairman Henry Lim.

In an interview, Lim said expanding farmlands planted to hybrid rice will boost the Phil-ippine government’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and, at the same time, boost the incomes of farmers.

“We hope the government will continue promot-ing this techno-logy which has enabled China to become an exporter of rice, des-pite the fact that it has a popula-tion of more than one billion,” said Lim.

Rice is considered a staple food in China, as well as in other parts of Asia, including the Phil-ippines.

In the 1950s, Lim noted that famine was widespread and scores of people died because of hunger.

“China was a laggard in terms of rice production during those times. But the govern-ment’s massive investment in the farm sector has enabled China to

RP urged to copy China’sexample in producing rice

By JENNIFER A. NG

produce more food and feed its population,” he said.

The Chinese government, Lim said, turned to hybrid seeds developed by Yuan Longping in the 1970s to turn around its rice production.

The hybrid rice seed enabled rice farmers to post yields of more than 20 percent versus the traditional varieties. By the 1990s rice production in China went up by 47.5 percent.

Lim said the Philippines can

achieve the same in rice product-ion.

“There is a lot of room for growth for hybrid rice production in the Philippines,” he said, noting that only 300,000 hectares out of the 4.2 million hectares have been planted to hybrid rice.

At a minimum yield of six metric tons per hectare, planting hybrid rice seeds to an additional 400,000 hectares of farmlands will enable the Philippines to produce an additional 2.4 million

metric tons (MMT) of palay, or 1.56 MMT of milled rice.

The additional production represents the usual volume im-ported by the Philippines from Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand to plug its product-ion shortfall and for beefing up its buffer stock.

SL Agritech Corp. is one of the three major producers of hy-brid rice seeds in the local market today.

The successful story of hybrid rice in China has sparked its ambition to attain rice sufficiency through hybrid technology.

The hybrid rice technology has enabled China to become an

exporter of the cereal despite the

fact that it has a population of more than one

billion

The use of the carabao – for plowing rice – will start to become more practical, for smaller ricelands, because of the high price of fuel, and the high cost of maintaining trac-tors, and other mechanized farm equipment.

A number of dormant farm-ers’ groups, especially irrigators’ groups, have started to regroup and reorganize, shopping for funding support, to help them re-start planting rice, which is now profitable, therefore, fun.

History would tell us that the United States – world leader

Planting rice was never fun

LET THIS NoTIoN BE FoRGoTTEN

(From page 2)

in agriculture – had envisioned to develop the Philippines as a main food and grains producer and sup-plier in Asia.

Before the First World War, the US Government had already dispatched a team of engineers to the Philippines, including experts employed by the Atlantic Gulf and the Pacific (AG & P) primarily to build big dams – like the Angat Dam – not only to provide potable water, but to render hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga productive and enable farmers achieve maximum

production.Probably and most important

and providential Philippine faci-lity, Angat Dam, built by a team of US engineers, is now also providing drinking water for the more than 15 million residents of Metro Manila and many other cities and towns in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and even up to Rizal province.

The team of US engineers who built Angat Dam, also built

Ipo Dam, and the Coregidor Tunnel.

Through its various agen-cies, like the United States Agency for International De-velopment (USAID), the US Government is quietly, but tremendously helping the Phil-ippines get back to shape as the major Southeast Asia food and grains supplier – a Philip-pine potential as envisioned by the US.

GINTONG BUTILjUNE-jULY 5

An example of a rice farmer who is now a millionare is a 24-year old whose 18 hectare farm in Nueva Ecija earnd him P175,000 per hectare for this cropping season alone. The name of the farmer was not given for

rice Farmerscan be MILLIONAIRES

By CONRAD M. CARIñO

There was a time when it was impossible for rice farmers to become millionares. But with modern farming technology, hybrid seeds, rice farmers have the chance to earn seven figure annually.

security purposes, but his yield of palay (unhusked rice) per hectare ranges from 10 to 12 metric tons. Lim said farmers whose landhold-ings are between 1 to 2 hectares can start by increasing their yield, on expanding their landholding gradually. Better earnings will

allow rice farmers to expand their areas and also become million-aires, he added.

Lim said there are farmers whose landholdings are small but who earn P70,000 to 90,000 per hectare, per cropping using

hybrid rice technology. He added that if these farmers increase the areas of their lands to eight or 10 hectares, they can join the ranks of millionaire farmers.

The average palay yield of irrigated lands in the country is from three to four metric tons

per hectare, per cropping season. But using the

latest technologies, like hybrid seeds, organic soil enhan-cers and integrated pest management, an boost yields from eight to as much as 17 metric tons, which is the Philippines record to date.

Dr. Weijun Xu, a Chinese who was formerly with the Inter-national Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and now with SL Agritech, said increasing rice yields is just a matter of harnessing the right technology.

And surprisingly, the type of hybrid farming being advocated by Weijun includes the use of integrated pest management, where the use of pesticides is just a last resort in containing pests. Under that system, a rice field is treated like an ecosystem, where pests are controlled by their natural predators, which includes insects and animals like frogs.

Integrated pests management saves farmers between 10 percent to 35 percent in production costs.

Weijun said that of the many types of seeds used to

boost rice production, hybrid seeds have proved their worth. It is also worth noting that a Chinese who was a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award

in 2001, professor Yuan Long Ping, is the acknowledged "Father of hybrid rice farming."

Lim was able to convince Ping, considered a "natural trea-sure" in China, to transfer hybrid rice farming technology to the Philippines.

Weijun said it was Ping's hybrid rice technology that made China self-sufficient in the staple, to a point that "excess" rice fields were converted to forests and lakes.

In Asia, the only countries using hybrid rice technology are China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia. Surprisingly, Thailand still uses inbred rice varieties which explains why its per hectare yield is lower at 2.1 metric tons. Thailand, however, has 9.7 million hectares of rice farms, which explains why it can import grain.

The Philippines has more than 3.5 million hectares of lands planted to rice with less than 10 percent use hybrid techno-logy. President Gloria Maca-pagal Arroyo has included the mass propagation of hybrid and certified seeds under her P43.7 billion program to boost farm productivity.

GINTONG BUTIL6

SL AgritechHybrid Rice

Festivals

Gov. Umali pushes hybrid rice to Nueva Ecija farmers

(From page 1)The festival was also at-

tended by former Nueva Ecija Rep. Renato Diaz, former PhilRice Executive Director Santiago Obien, town and ba-rangay officials, and represen-tatives from the Department of Agriculture (DA).

During the affair, Ricardo Buenaventura, coop president, reported “the successful har-vest we had as a group using the SL-8H hybrid rice seeds of SL Agritech.”

“Nag-average kami sa am-ing sinasakang mga isang li-bong ektarya ng 180 cavanes kada ektarya bagama't ang iba naming kasama ay umani ng 225 cavanes kada ektarya. Ito ay kumpara sa dati naming inaaning inbred rice variety na umaabot lamang lagi sa 70-80 cavanes kada ektarya,” Bue-naventura said.

Like the Bagong Buhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, the Talavera farmers’ coop is also using the clustering system which, according to its mem-bers, has increased their rice

yield and income.Representing Henry Lim,

chairman and chief executive of SL Agritech Corp., Noel G. Mamicpic, the firm’s vice presi-dent, was elated when informed that all the members of the 120-strong Talavera farmers’ group have been planting the SL-8H hybrid rice seeds the last several planting seasons.

“We are indeed happy to note that more and more farm-ers in Nueva Ecija and in many provinces as well throughout the country, are now planting our high-yielding hybrid rice seed variety and using the latest farming technology.” Mamicpic said.

“Hindi puedeng hanggang sa traditional (inbred seeds variety) na lang tayo,” he said, adding “while we are all aware of the important role played by technology in our massive food production efforts, there is the need for all of us to keep abreast with the various technological approaches and to continuously be in search of new and better systems towards increased pro-ductivity.”

held last April 2008 in Tabacao, Talavera and in Mabini, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija; Sta. Cruz, Occidental Min-doro; Hinunangan, Southern Leyte; Madrid, Surigao del Norte; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur and in Kanangga, Leyte.

BINIBIGYANG diin ni Dr. Noel G. Mamicpic (kanan) bise presidente ng SL Agritech, ang kahalagahan ng pagtatanim ng hybrid rice. Ang okasyon ay ang ginanap na Hybrid Rice Harvest Festival sa Talavera, Nueva Ecija.

Kuha nang idinaos ng SL Agritech na hybrid rice festival sa Bgy. Mulawin, Sta. Cruz, Occidental Mindoro. Nasa larawan ang mag-sasakang si Ruben De Limos (gitna) at ang mga representante ng Department of Agriculture.

Ang mga magsasakang dumalo sa Santiago, Isabela hybrid Habang idinaraos ang programa na pinangunahan ng SL Agritech Corp.

Felino GarciaFlorencio SudoyEduardo GarciaMaxima PantaleonVirgilio GarciaElino MataMarciano BautistaJuanito MendozaImelda MacadamiaSalvador SantosSebastian GarciaAnacleto AlamaniMaximo GarciaAnselmo SantosFaustino LeonzonRenato Perez Rafael Umagat

Name of Farmer ave. yield (cav/ha)2007 2008

246215205195196184181190179193205175181195190191186

260237211220207200200200198198196196195191190190190

Data provided by the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture

GINTONG BUTIL 7

SL AgritechHybrid Rice

Festivalsheld last April 2008 in Tabacao, Talavera and in Mabini, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija; Sta. Cruz, Occidental Min-doro; Hinunangan, Southern Leyte; Madrid, Surigao del Norte; Bayugan, Agusan del Sur and in Kanangga, Leyte.

KUHA ito sa idinaos na hybrid rice harvest festival sa Mabini, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija. Mula sa ka-liwa: PhilRice Director Leocadio Sebastian, dating food minister Jesus Tanchanco, Henry Lim, chair-man at CEO ng SL Agritech Corp.; Agriculture

Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras; at Dr. Frisco Malabanan (pangalawa mula sa kanan), director ng Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program ng Dept. of Agriculture.

KINAKAPANAYAM ni Henry Lim ang mga magsa-saka ng Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, matapos ibalita

sa kanya ang malaking inani nila kamakailan sa pagtatanim ng SL-8H hybrid rice.

Bagong Buhay ng Mabini Multi-Purpose CooperativeModel SL-8H Hybrid Rice Cluster in Bgy. Mabini, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija

2007 Dry Season Harvest (Nov. 2006-Apr. 2007) as compared to 2008 Dry Season Harvest (Nov. 2007-Apr. 2008)

Zosimo EstebanCrispin Alay-ayJose RigorAndres MataRomeo UmagatDante AlamaniFelimon UmagatPlacido del RosarioRoderick MacadamiaBabylito BolisayCandido LeonzonPepito OlaviagaEdgar DomingoAntonio Sto. TomasHermogenes PascualAriel RigorNemencio Pantaleon

ave. yield (cav/ha)2007 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008

Gross Income Net Income

260237211220207200200200198198196196195191190190190

141,892.80125,572.90114,742.00114,283.65116,553.3697,781.2898,435.04

112,717.50100,112.91106,750.23122,774.50

98,596.75103,095.79101,974.50107,830.70112,496.33103,836.36

235,872.00207,257.00196,146.00193,644.00197,064.00179,300.00180,200.00166,400.00167,825.00156,499.00184,397.00164,130.00161,109.00180,495.00175,560.00168,112.00175,560.00

97,422.8082,567.9072,242.0071,783.6574,053.3655,281.2855,935.0470,217.5057,612.9164,250.2379,919.5056,096.7560,595.7968,474.5065,330.7059,996.3361,336.36

183,872.00155,389.00146,146.00141,875.00145,370.00127,746.00128,546.00114,746.00116,182.00104,857.00132,766.00112,499.00109,484.00128,893.00123,964.00116,516.00123,964.00

182177192185180173190185183197173179179187178181195

Name of Farmer ave. yield (cav/ha)2007 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008

Gross Income Net Income

190190190185183181 180180178177175168160160148140134

101,040.9496,077.37

110,547.84106,136.398,447.4096,757.70

106,656.50101,182.05102,350.07113,832.5196,757.17

103,800.31100,666.02103,816.79101,020.34

99,926.48114,283.65

58,540.9453,577.3768,047.8463,636.3555,947.4054,382.7064,156.5058,682.0559,850.0771,332.5154,382.1761,300.3158,166.0261,316.7958,520.3457,426.4871,783.65

165,680.00164,141.00156,085.00157,842.00157,124.00

148,69.00165,312.00160,380.00147,064.00150,025.00148,400.00150,528.00143,440.00133,984.00126,274.00117,600.00122,315.00

114,084.00112,545.00104,489.00106,275.00105,568.00

97,147.00113,773.00108,841.00

95,537.0098,504.0096,890.0099,059.0092,017.0082,561.0074,920.0066,292.0071,042.00

Data provided by the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program of the Department of AgriculturePhp/kg (fresh)2007 2008

10.3010.6010.3010.3010.6010.2010.3010.5010.3010.3010.6010.3010.3010.5010.3010.3010.30

16.2016.5016.6016.3017.0016.3017.0016.0016.3016.8016.8015.8015.3017.5016.5015.8016.80

Php/kg (fresh)2007 2008

10.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.6010.3010.3010.3010.3010.3010.30

16.0016.3015.0015.8016.2015.5016.4016.5015.3016.3016.0016.0016.3015.8015.8015.0016.30