Peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Marcos Jr does not only lack genuine compassion for farmers, but he also lacks knowledge in agriculture and rice farming. “This hybrid seeds program is much like Marcos Sr’s MASAGANA 99 program that tied Filipino farmers into chemically-dependent high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, costly fertilizers, and herbicides.”

Under the proposed hybrid seeds program, some 1.9 million hectares planted with certified seeds will be replaced by hybrid seeds in four years. The DA will launch a financial and credit program to persuade farmers to shift to hybrid rice. The program targets production areas in Panay, Eastern Visayas, SOCCSKARGEN, and BARMM.

“It is callous for SL Agritech Corp. to propose such measure when it is the top producer of hybrid seeds in the country. Ang unang-unang makikinabang sa hybrid seeds program na gusto ni Marcos Jr ay mga negosyante sa binhi at hindi ang mga magsasaka.”

The former DAR secretary said the hybrid seeds program would be more disadvantageous than helpful to farmers. Unlike inbred or certified seeds, hybrid seeds cannot be used for seed breeding, compelling farmers to always buy hybrid seeds every cropping season. “Kaiba sa certified seeds, ang hybrid rice seeds hindi na pwedeng i-binhi. Palaging bibili ang magsasaka. Ang kumpanya ng hybrid seeds ang may tiyak na kita dito.”

How to achieve rice self-sufficiency?

Mariano reiterated that there is no need to shift to hybrid seeds to achieve rice self-sufficiency. “Dapat malinaw ang polisiya ng gobyerno. Dapat prayoridad ang food production. Kung yung 4.8 million hectares harvested area for rice natin ay mapataas ang yield ng 5 hanggang 6 na tonelada kada ektarya, maabot natin ang self-sufficiency at hindi na kailangan mag-import.”

“Dapat magparami tayo ng klase ng binhi ng palay, tuloy-tuloy lang ang seed improvement ng palay at palakasin ang local rice production.” Mariano added: “Kapag taniman, nakapagtatabi ng binhi ang mga magsasaka, nakakapagpalitan din sila ng binhi (seed exchange). Kapag hybrid rice seeds lang ang ipatatanim, hindi na pwede ito.”

“Huwag lang iisa o iilang klase binhi ng palay ang dapat itanim. Kapag ganito, magkakaroon ng erosion of genetic diversities. Kung may genetic uniformities o iisa lang ang binhi, kapag tinamaan ng sakit, peste o virus ang palay, salanta agad. Ganun ang nangyari sa IR8 sa Masagana99 ni Marcos Sr. ‘Yung resistance ng pananim na palay humihina din pagtagal ng panahon kaya dapat patuloy ang breeding at conservation ng mga binhi. Marami na rin tayong improved inbred varieties ng palay kaya hindi dapat ipilit ang hybrid rice lang.”

“Kaming mga magsasaka ang nakakakita kung anong binhi ng palay ang matatag, hindi madaling dumapa at resistant at hindi kayang pasukin ng mga sakit,” the peasant leader said.

“Promoting hybrid seeds will not wholly increase the rice yield and productivity output. It will further bury farmers into deeper debt,” Mariano said as he cited that hybrid rice seeds are very much costly compared to conventional and inbred seeds.

KMP added: “all seeds must be free to be used, saved, shared, bred, and sold by anyone. The trend of corporate control of agriculture in the Philippines began through the International Rice Research Institute’s (IRRI) genetically modified (GM) rice seeds which displaced more than 4000 traditional and heirloom rice varieties. With the establishment of IRRI and the proliferation of its chemical-dependent and hybrid rice seeds, agriculture and food systems were put under the control of transnational corporations through the genetic engineering of rice seeds and other crops. ###