Quiet, Giant Revolution At The New PH DA With Hybrid Rice & Entrepreneuship

Not minus, but hybrid rice plus inbred rice.

The above photograph was taken on 25 September 2019 at the Department of Agriculture, DA, main office when the Memorandum of Agreement, MOA, was signed for the implementation of "Masaganang Ani 300" (Bountiful Harvest 300, my translation), the hybrid rice program of the DA, with SL Agritech Corporation CEO Henry Lim Biong (left), and Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship Foundation, Inc-Go Negosyo founder and chairman Joey Concepcion (right) (Lilybeth Ison, 26 September 2019, "Deal On Use Of Hybrid Rice Seeds Inked," PNA, pna.gov.ph). The target is 300 cavans/ha, not 100, not 200.

Agriculture enriched by hybrid rice empowered by entrepreneurship – a quiet, historical revolution like no other in PH history. PH media missed it!

At that time, Manong Willie said:

We are in the (critical) situation now and like any other business out there, we have to compete. (So) we have to (empower) our farmers and mentor them, fund them, and provide them a market for their rice.

Our farmers need all-out help. Meanwhile, for 2020, the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, RCEF, has allotted P3 billion to inbred rice independent of the DA, and so the DA decided to allot the whole regular budget for rice of P2 billion for hybrid rice (Louise Maureen Simeon, 19 August 2019, The Philippine Star, philstar.com). Agriculture Assistant Secretary Andrew Villacorta said, "With the hybrid, our (target of) 20 to 21 million MT is achievable next year."

Seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, farm machineries, rice mills, including assistance to marketing will be there. 

In the next 6 years, the RCEF from the Rice Tariffication Law will finance mechanization, distribution of inbred seeds, skills development, and credit facilities. The farmers will be trained as necessary. That is to say, there would be no excuses for low productivity, low competitiveness, and low incomes. 

The presence of SL Agritech CEO Henry Lim signifies that the DA welcomes being partner with the private sector; while the presence of Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion signifies that the DA recognizes the need to train the farmers to always think like businessmen, not mendicants. 

Mr Concepcion said:

Kaya ngayon, kailangan ang tulong ng private sector (Therefore now, the help of the private sector is necessary), together with the government to bring about a massive mentorship program on how we can enable our farmers to improve productivity.

With adequate financial assistance and training, not to mention mentoring, Mr Concepcion hopes Masaganang Ani 300 will encourage farmers to look at new technologies in the use of inbred and hybrid seeds. 

Change has to happen. If we allow our farmers to continue to be unproductive, continue with their current (practices) in rice, we're not helping the farmers. We're actually giving them (dole outs). So this transformation has to happen.

During the MOA signing mentioned above, Manong Willie said "Masaganang Ani 300 is a welcome initiative." In other words, the initiative came from outside DA. That signifies the new DA is open to new doors of opportunities to serve the poor Filipino farmers.@517