The Philippines will never be able to achieve self-sufficiency in rice unless it expands land for the cultivation of the staple or plant more genetically enhanced rice strains that yield up to 35 percent more than the traditional varieties.

These two options are the only ones available for the country, which devotes only 2.3 million hectares of irrigated land for rice cultivation, many of them in farms of uneconomic sizes, with little or no mechanization, and with less water.

The country has about 1.9 million hectares of rain-fed rice farms. In contrast, Thailand has 9.9 million hectares of rice fields and Vietnam devotes 7.5 million hectares for the propagation of the staple.

Thailand is the world’s biggest exporter of the grain, while Vietnam follows suit, even as the productions in China and India are eight times or seven times bigger, respectively.

In 2004 the Philippines only harvested 4.12 million hectares of land, while Vietnam profited from 9.82 million hectares of land that grew rice.

Leocadio Sebastian, director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), said the country must be able to increase productivity tremendously if it wants to achieve a semblance of food security and end the dependence on imported rice.

Biotechnology has been addressing this problem with the introduction of alternative-rice varieties resistant to rice diseases that that have condemned farmers to a regime of low productivity, he added.

Tungro-disease and bacterial leaf blight-resistant (BLB) rice-varieties are being developed to lessen yield losses in the coming years.

At present, two BLB rice varieties, Tubigan 7 and Tubigan 11, are already commercially available.

While the development of conventional rice takes between eight and 10 years, genetically enhanced varieties using the tools of biotechnology would take only five years to develop, Sebastian said. This alone means that indigenously developed transgenic rice varieties can reach the market at a quicker pace, thus enhancing production.

PhilRice says while the initial cost of cultivating biotech rice is higher, the long-term benefit is positive since the gross income of individual farmers would rise by at least 26 percent. Biolife News Service