Why promote hybrid rice?

Posted on September 15, 2006 - Filed Under Punch Forum |

Eduardo Pontaoe
15 Sept 2006

Well, Mr. Pablico, we are into it again. You'd been advocating the advantages of planting hybrid rice but you never discussed the futility of its acceptance. Hybrid rice is resoundingly rejected by farmers in Asia…you know why…because it's very expensive, too reliant on fertilizers and pesticides and a very poor techno-fix to increase yield according to a report by GRAIN, an agricultural publication. Accordingly, Mohammed Imamuddin, an agri extension officer from Bangladesh said; "Although we talked about high yields, hybrid rice has many problems. The price of seeds is sky high beyond the financial means of the lowly farmers".

This is true, too, in the Philippines where farmers are mostly of the small acreage caliber. A Monico Malabug of Isabela, recounted his dismay on the output of this vaunted hybrid rice. He spent more than P170T for seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and lost everything with this hybrid Magilas. The crop produced nothing but empties… (apa). The report which draws from experiences of farmers from India, Vietnam, Bangladesh to the Philippines continue to reject it with all the subsidies and credit packages from FAO and the IRRI. Hybrid rice is an anathema to all those farmers who cannot even save seeds harvested for replanting.

The following is an scientific overview of hybrid rice as tested…Hybrid rice is a result of two genetically distant parents that produce superior offspring based on the theory of heterosis or hybrid vigour. However, this heterosis disappears after the first (F1) generation, so it is pointless for farmers to save seeds produced from hybrid. They will buy hybrid seeds every season. With this conclusion, hybrid rice is the knife in the heart of rice production…..an agricultural Frankenstein.

Now, my question to you, Mr. Pablico. Why all these unrestricted endorsements coming from you when you knew that hybrid rice is injurious… inimical… pernicious and deleterious to the farmer's agricultural way of life. It could not be that you are uneducated enough. Possibly, you just don't give a damn.

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