Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, also the chairman of the National Seed Industry Council, is set to approve the release of seven high-yielding rice lines for commercial production, a press release from the Agriculture department said.

The new promising lines are known by their coded names as PR27843, IR71137, PR30138, PR31561, C6824, IR77186, and PR30536. The letters in the coded name indicate the research agency responsible for breeding the line: P stands for PhilRice; C for the UP College of Agriculture in Los Baños, Laguna; and IR for the International Rice Research Institute.

Except for IR71137, which is recommended only for transplanted conditions, the other six lines have been found to produce good yields both in transplanted and direct wet-seeded conditions.

All of the new lines are early maturing and highly resistant to various rice fungi and pests, the press release said.

Under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Rice Program, the DA's goal is to raise palay production from 15.33 million metric tons in 2006 to 16.23 million MT this year by using hybrid and certified seeds.

The DA is also increasing spending on rural infrastructure and seed technology, developing efficient marketing systems, opening more rural credit facilities, and implementing location-specific interventions to raise palay production. Director Frisco Malabanan of the GMA Rice Program said the DA also aims to slash production costs by reducing post-harvest losses by 1 percent per year and increase yields by 20 percent from 2006 to 2010.

The DA has allocated P400 million this year for the hybrid rice program, which will continue for another three years to help achieve the government's goal of rice sufficiency and its target of 4-5 percent growth for the agriculture sector this year and a higher 7-8 percent in 2008, the press release said.

Last year, 225,371 hectares were planted to hybrid rice during the dry season and over 93,000 hectares during the wet season.

This year, Malabanan said the DA is targeting a total of 400,000 hectares planted to hybrid rice, and expects this figure to rise to 600,000 hectares by 2010. Farmlands using hybrid seeds have posted a yield-average of 6.2 MT per hectare, while areas using certified seeds produce just about 4.5 MT per hectare.

The DA is setting aside P58.7 billion for the construction of these irrigation facilities, which, he said, will service a total of 523,000 hectares of farmlands nationwide, the press release said.*

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