SL AGRITECH Corp. (SLAC), one of the country’s three producers of hybrid rice seeds, is reviving its plan of developing a hybrid rice variant that is resistant to the dreaded pest called bacterial leaf blight (BLB) that can reduce yields.

In a briefing with reporters, SLAC chairman and chief executive officer Henry Lim Bon Liong said this is in response to the clamor among farmers using hybrid rice seeds.

“We started efforts to develop a BLB-resistant hybrid rice variant in 2003 [but] because of the high cost of [doing research], we decided to put it on hold,” said Lim.

Lim disclosed it would take about at least one-and-a-half years—from development to commercialization—before the variant could be made available to farmers.

A BLB-resistant hybrid rice variant is desirable to farmers especially during the wet season, when rice stalks are more susceptible to the pest.

Lim said SLAC continues to be the market leader in the country, cornering about 60 percent of the market for hybrid rice seeds. For this year, he said the company expects to sell 200,000 20-kilogram bags of hybrid seeds.

The company has also set its sights on exporting rice seeds to Bangladesh. SLAC has started shipping out rice seeds to Indonesia, where it exported some 50 metric tons (MT) this year.

“Next year, we see the shipments of seeds to Indonesia to grow by 500 MT,” said Lim.

Lim was earlier quoted as saying that the company was setting its sights on the export market due to uncertainties in the government’s seed subsidy program.

The SLAC executive said the government would do well to continue subsidizing the hybrid rice program, not only to ensure that the Philippines would become self-sufficient in rice but also to increase farmers’ income.

Producers of hybrid rice seeds like SLAC and Bayer CropSciences Phils. Inc. claim that their seeds could yield anywhere from 8 MT to 14 MT of palay per hectare.

This is significantly higher than the average of 3 to 4 MT produced by farmers using inbred and certified seeds.

MEMBER countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) are planning to integrate the existing 24 free-trade agreements, including five more trade deals under negotiation by the 21 economies, into a single trade pact for the nations in the Pacific Rim.

LOOKING at ensuring energy security in the Luzon grid by 2010 and 2011, Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) has expressed willingness to possibly work with TeaM Energy Corp. in expanding the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas-fired power plant in Batangas.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) would need a budget support of about P20 billion to enable the Philippines to achieve “98 percent self-sufficiency” in rice production by 2010.

SL AGRITECH Corp. (SLAC), one of the country’s three producers of hybrid rice seeds, is reviving its plan of developing a hybrid rice variant that is resistant to the dreaded pest called bacterial leaf blight (BLB) that can reduce yields.

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has earmarked $50 million to $100 million in assistance to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) that will be used to improve the financial and technical capabilities of the country’s 118 electric cooperatives.