Press Release
June 22, 2009

New rice varieties to help Filipino farmers
ANGARA COMMENDS NEW DEVELOPMENT BY IRRI

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara today commended the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the world's leading rice research and training center which is based in the Philippines, for discovering and designing a new way to help Filipino farmers grow more rice amidst difficult conditions.

"I have always been in support for a sustainable program for our agriculture. Not only that I feel for our farmers but because I have always believed that our country is rich in resources and talented people to utilize them well," said Angara who is a former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Angara shared that our farmers have long been suffering from problems such as salinity of water, flood and drought. In the Philippines, around 400,000 hectares of coastal rice-growing land is affected by salinity from sea water. Farmers often don't plant in this region because of the risk of crop failure. Frequent experience of severe typhoons causing flood makes us lose an estimated 228,350 tons of rice and upland areas in the Philippines suffer from drought due to lack of water.

With IRRI's new innovation new salt-tolerant variety they can now use lands even with salinity from sea water to grow rice and can tolerate more than two weeks under water and IRRI's new drought-tolerant rice variety for the Philippines, can yield up to 10% more than standard varieties in seasons with good rainfall and it provides 0.5 to 0.8 tons per hectare yield advantage when an area is exposed to drought.

The three new rice varieties developed by IRRI designed to battle drought, flood, and one that is salt tolerant will help Filipino farmers grow more rice even in difficult conditions.

With high recommendation for approval for release in the Philippines the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has already started distributing small amounts of seed of the new varieties to farmers for further adaptation tests. Seed increase of breeder and foundation seeds is now being done by IRRI and PhilRice. When officially approved, basic seed will be available to seed growers and selected farmers that can cater to other farmers.

Each variety has been tested in field conditions and evaluated through the National Cooperative Testing program of PhilRice. The Rice Technical Working Group will now recommend the varieties for official release to the Technical Secretariat and then the Council Secretariat of the National Seed Industry Council will officially approve the varieties.

"With this new innovation, it will definitely help our farmers, consumers and economy. Achieving the goal of having more equitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth is within our reach," said Angara.

He emphasized that a sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people and expanding productivity is the key to raising the quality of life.

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