President and head of the Department of Agriculture Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signals approval of the adoption of hybrid rice to boost harvest and crop production.
President Marcos aims to create a program that will encourage farmers to shift to using hybrid seeds by providing subsidies and facilitating loan financing.
Over the past two years, hybrid farmers have reported harvesting around 7 to 15 metric tons (MT) per hectare compared to the average of 3.6 MT/hectare for inbred seeds.
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Hybrid rice
Hybrid rice is a type of rice that has been bred from two very different parents. It can significantly outyield other rice varieties. IRRI is working with its partners to develop new and improved hybrid rice varieties.
Because hybrid rice can outyield other varieties of rice, it is a key technology that meets the increasing global demand for rice. In the 1970s, China’s hybrid rice breeding program averted an impending famine. Today, hybrid rice closes yield gaps evident in many areas. It also raises yield potential. Bountiful harvests mean that farmers earn higher incomes and rice becomes available and affordable to more consumers.
The Hybrid Rice Development Consortium
The Hybrid Rice Development Consortium promotes innovation and access to new germplasm and information on hybrid rice technology. We are a membership-based organization that helps other organizations collaborate in the research and production of hybrid rice varieties.
Across the rice-producing world, there are well-recognized “yield gaps”—the difference between how much rice a system can potentially produce and the actual amount a farmer produces. Hybrid rice varieties are a key technology that can help close that gap, improving yield and profitability.
The hybrid alternative for Africa
Africa, which has tremendous agricultural potential, is often described as a continent of paradoxes. Rice statistics reveal one such paradox. The continent’s average rice yields, estimated at about 2 tons per hectare (ha), are among the lowest in the world. Yet, Egypt, in northern Africa, has one of the highest national average rice yields worldwide, with nearly 10 tons per ha.
Egypt’s rice yields were boosted by the use of high-yielding inbred and hybrid varieties, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Egypt is the only country in Africa that has successfully produced several varieties of hybrid rice with grain yield of 12–14 tons per ha. It has also developed a strategy to produce hybrids tolerant of salinity and drought.
