gov't urged to take decisive steps to stop rice smuggling

VOL. 4 NO. 1 PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY SL AGRITECH CORP. FEB-MAR 2011

Breastfeeding with Brown Rice

0

DA urged to provide P3.6 B for

food securityPage 4

Ang sarap pakinggan!

Page 2

Go Negosyoinilunsad ng SL Agritech

Page 12

(Turn to page 4)

".. .smuggled rice reportedly coming from China, found its way to markets in Metro Manila and provinces in Mindanao and Visayas particularly in Cebu."

In a letter-complaint recently sent by former Food Minister and National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jesus Tanchanco to Customs Commissioner An-gelito Alvarez, the farmers said “severe penalty should be meted out to perpetrators of illegal

GOV’T URGED TO TAKE DECISIVESTEPS TO STOP RICE SMUGGLING

TANTAMOUNT TO ECONOMIC SABOTAGE

Farmers from Laguna and Nueva Ecija have asked government authorities to take drastic and decisive steps to put an end to rice smuggling which they said “is tantamount to economic sabotage.”

activities such as rice smug-gling which is synonymous to economic sabotage.”

The farmers said the smug-gled rice reportedly coming from China, found its way to the markets in Metro Manila

Much has been said and written about rice importation – that it drains our dollar reserves; that in effect subsidizes the business of foreign rice farmers; that corrupt officials in government and their cohorts benefit from it, etc. etc..

Upon his assumption into office last June this year, Agricul-

WILL WE SEE END OF IT?

RICE IMPORTS:

By SANNY GALVEZture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala announced that the country will gradually veer away from rice importation, saying that in three years, he expects to make the Philippines self-sufficient of the basic staple through intensified production.

But that remains to be seen.During the past administrations, billions of pesos had been

spent for rice importation that it has become some sort of a habit or tradition for the country to import the commodity, thereby discouraging local farmers from increasing their production..

“When the government resorts to rice imports, it does so at the risk of losing its focus on food security. In effect, we are

(Turn to pages 6-7)

Henry Lim, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of SL Agritech Corp. has urged farmers in Nueva Ecija to main-tain the province’s lead as the country’s top rice producer and to promote the planting of hybrid rice “to increase your harvest that would provide a positive outlook for our rice industry.”

“Nueva Ecija is the No. 1 rice-producing province in the country, and I urge you to main-tain it in that position,” Lim said, as he encouraged farmers in the province in a recent meeting “to

Maintain NuevaEcija’s lead as

Phl top rice producer –Lim

(Turn to page 9)

The name of a rice farmer from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro was added to the long list of SL Agritech Corporation’s success-ful hybrid rice farmers who have scored unprecedented records in rice production.

Cathy Galura, SL Agritech vice president for operations, said 52-year-old Leandro Cantos of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, was selected by her firm as this year’s highest hybrid rice yielder for his production record this wet crop-ping season of 270 cavans per hectare.

M’doro farmer is this year’shighest hybrid rice yielder

(Turn to page 8)

SMUGGLED RICE?

GINTONG BUTIL FEB-MAR 20112

Ang sarap pakinggan!

golden grainsanny galvez

STAFF

SANNY GALVEZEditor

JOSEPHINE E. DUNGCA Managing Editor

Contributing Writers:Rudy A. Fernandez

Jennifer NgViktor Peñas Carlo CaluagPhotographers

Carmina Cruz Jivin Relato

Graphic Artists

Gintong Butil is published bi-monthly by SL Agritech Corp., a division of Sterling Group of Companies, with editorial andbusiness offices at 2302 Sterling Place, Pasong Tamo Ext.,

Makati City. Telefax No. 810-1604

Conrad CariñoAnselmo Roque

Sa tanong ko sa aking mga kasama sa Commonwealth Caucus, a group of former and current media practitioners, kung ano ang masasabi nila sa walang tigil na pag-iimport o pag-aangkat natin ng bigas sa ibang bansa, na ang tutuong naaapektohan ay ang ating mga magsasaka, narito ang kanilang mga kasagutan:

ELI CINCO, Manila Bulletin columnist: “While rice importa-tion is a temporary remedy, the long-term solution to the country’s rice requirements is massive production. Kailangan nga lang ang political will.”

-o0o-MART DEL ROSARIO, noted PR practitioner: “Mahilig din

lamang tayong manggaya, bakit hindi natin gayahin ang China, considered the most populous nation on earth. With 1.3 billion people to feed, China has popularized the production of hybrid rice, so much so that it has not only substantially raised its food production but has also improved the living standards of its farm-ers. At nakakapag-export pa sila ng bigas sa ibang bansa!

“It is common knowledge that corrupt officials in government, pocket huge commission in rice imports. ‘di ba tutuo?”

-o0o-BERT LUMAUIG, former Ifugao Congressman, newsman

and now a rice and corn farmer: “What makes importing rice so attractive? Bilyong piso ang pinag-uusapan dyan, that’s why.”

-o0o-ROMAN FLORESCA, assistant business and agriculture editor

of the Philippine Star: “Sa importation, we are subsidizing foreign farmers, who else?

-o0o-MAX BALLESTEROS, former media director of Food Ter-

minal, Inc. (FTI): “Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala says he can make the country self-sufficient in rice in three years. That’s a tall order, if you’ll ask me.

“By the way, ano naman itong nabasa ko recently, quoting NFA assistant administrator Jose Cordero as saying at a recent conference

in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, that: ‘We had to increase the volume of importation (rice) this year as we had troubles with production?’

“Ano ba ‘yan!!!”-o0o-

ALEX QUIBIN, former associate managing director for admin-istration and finance, Meralco Foundation: “The Philippines is dubbed as the world’s No. 1 rice importer. Wala na akong masabi.”

LYSANDER GARCIA, former business editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “We are spending more than P50 billion every year in rice importation but just a pittance or barely sufficient amount in rice production.”

-o0o-JAKE ESPINO, former managing editor of the Philippine News

Agency (PNA): “When the government resorts to rice imports, it does so at the risk of losing its focus on food security. In effect, we are sub-sidizing the business of rice farmers in Vietnam, Thailand and other countries where we buy our rice requirements.”

-o0o-JUN VARELA, former feature editor also of the PNA: “Hang-

gang hindi nabubulgar ang mga ‘kumikita’ ng milyon-milyong piso sa pag-iimport natin ng bigas, mahirap matigil ang masamang bisyong ito na ang binibiktima ay ang ating maliliit na magsasaka.”

“If I remember right, we had been exporting the cereal from 1977 to 1984, and since then, we have not had any. Puro na nga tayo import na lang ng import from such countries as Thailand and Vietnam whose agriculturists are mostly graduates from our agricultural schools.

“Parang nakakahiya kung iisipin.”-o0o-

LITO GOROSPE, a veteran radioman formerly with Malacanang Press Office: “I’ve nothing to say except, let’s stop rice importation once and for all. Sa tutuo lang, our country will never prosper unless we give agriculture the highest priority in our national recovery program. Yun lang.”

-o0o-

A government program being implemented by the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) has won an international award given by a Saudi Arabia-based funding organization.

The Open Academy for Phil-ippine Agriculture (OPAPA) won the third category of the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND). The category con-cerns the "Role of Government Ministries and Public Institutions in the Adoption of New Innova-tions to Enhance the Application of ICT (Information and Com-munication Technology) for the Development of Remote and

PhilRice program wins international award

By RUDY A. FERNANDEZ

Rural Communities."DA-PhilRice and the win-

ners of the three other 2010 AGFUND International Prize categories will receive their prizes at a ceremony to be sub-sequently convened.

For the feat, OPAPA will receive $100,000.

OPAPA was recommended to the AGFUND award by Dr. Suresh Ghandra Raj, represen-tative in the Philippines of the United Nations Internation-al Development Organization (UNIDO).

Launched in 2003, OPAPA is being implemented by DA-

(Turn to page 4)

(Turn to page 4)

GINTONG BUTILFEB-MAR 2011 3


and provinces in Mindanao and Visayas particularly in Cebu.

In a interview, Tanchanco, who is currently the chairman of food and agro-industry commit-tee of the Federation of Philip-pine Industries (FPI), said rice smuggling is such a contempt-ible undertaking by syndicates who rake in millions of pesos resulting in massive economic losses for the farmers.

The FPI had earlier signed a cooperation agreement with the Bureau of Customs in the gov-ernment’s anti smuggling efforts.

“We cannot allow this smug-gling activity to further go on at the expense of our poor farmers who are forced to lower their prices just to compete with the cheap smuggled rice,” he said.

Tanchanco said the syn-dicates are not the only ones making big bucks in the rice smuggling business. Even un-scrupulous rice retailers, he said, get their share by buy-ing the smuggled rice from the syndicates and selling it in turn at lower prices thus resulting in the lower pricing of palay. “Dito nagkakaroon ng kumpetensya-han sa pagitan ng syndikato at ng ating pobreng mga magsasaka na

GOV’T URGED TO TAKE DECISIVESTEPS TO STOP RICE SMUGGLING

(From page 1)

nagiging agrabyado sa ganitong pamamaraan.”

Tanchanco said China has stopped officially exporting rice some two years ago.

“China, although the biggest

producer of rice in the world, has prohibited the exportation of rice more than a year ago. This prohi-bition can be confirmed from the Trade Counselor of the Chinese Embassy here,” Tanchanco said.

Ako naman. Tama yung sinabing paradox ng kasama kong si Rudy Fernandez ng Philippine Star. The paradox, he said, is this: Although the Philippines is basically an agricultural country, agriculture is one of the most neglected segments of the national economy. Too often in the past – and even today, he said, lip-service was all that the agriculture sector got: 'The farmers are the backbone of the nation;' 'from now on agriculture will be the centerpiece of the national development program;' 'agriculture will be the main component of the country’s national economic recovery program.'" Great words indeed.

Ang sarap pakinggan!-o0o-

Unsolicited items from my ardent readers:* If your problem is your face, face your problem.* Dying husband: I'm sorry, I've been unfaithful to you. Wife: I know. Husband: You knew all along? Wife: Why do you think I poisoned you?* On their 60th wedding anniversary, wife tells husband lying on bed: Embrace me, kiss me and bite me like the way you used to. Husband stands up. Wife: Where are you going? Husband: To get my teeth.

Ang sarap pakinggan!(From page 2)

PhilRice currently headed by Executive Director Ronilo Beronio, to forge a strategic alliance among knowledge and resource generators, content developers, network providers, learning centers, extensionists, and farmers in information generation, dissemination and sharing.

AGFUND is a regional developmental funding orga-nization that actively works internationally in the field of development. To date, it has supported 1,268 projects in 133 developing countries.

Headed by Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, AG-FUND launched its Interna-tional Prize for Pioneering Human Development in 1999 to "incite and encour-age innovation and creativity in the areas of human devel-opment."

The AGFUND 2010 winning projects were se-lected from among 28 nomi-nated from 25 countries rep-resenting three continents.

AGFUND has recog-nized OPAPA for "its genu-ine efforts in developing and testing ICT applications that address challenges in agri-cultural development in the Philippines."

OPAPA's entry high-lighted various ICT inter-ventions, among them the PhilRice Text Center, Pinoy Farmers' Internet (wowo-penacademy.ph), OPAPA e-learning program, Palay Chikahan (e-forum), virtual consultations, Pinoy Rice Knowledge Band (www.Pinoyrkb.com), cyber com-munities, and ICT trainings uwing the Mobile Internet Bus.

PhilRice program

wins...(From page 2)

The Department of Agricul-ture (DA) should allocate P3.6 billion for hybrid rice subsidy which is far cheaper than the P65-70 billion that it will spend for rice imports this year in order to help achieve food security.

This subsidy will be an in-centive for farmers to plant high-yielding hybrid rice until the pres-ent 200,000 hectares of hybrid

DA urged to provideP3.6 B for food security

By MELODY AGUIBAarea expands to 800,000 hectares by 2013 that will aid Philippines’ rice self-sufficiency goals.

“China provided subsidy for five years until 100 percent of its farmers knew about hybrid rice. But here, only five percent knows about hybrid rice (200,000-hect-are hybrid farms), but we have four million hectares of rice area,” said Henry Lim in a press

briefing over the weekend.Lim said government should

have a short, medium, and long term plan for achieving rice suf-ficiency. The short term involves immediate planting of hybrid rice which has the potential to auto-matically double the country’s rice production from around four metric tons (MT) per hectare to

(Turn to page 9)


subsidizing the business of rice farmers in Vietnam, Thailand and other countries where we buy our rice requirements,” ac-cording to Jake Espino, a mem-ber of Commonwealth Caucus, a group of former and current

(From page 1)

RICE IMPORTS: WILL WE SEE END OF IT?

media and PR practitioners.Former Ifugao Rep. Gualber-

to Lumauig who is now a rice and corn farmer, said the Philippines serves as Asia’s (and perhaps the world’s) center for research on the best scientific methods

of rice production. Yet today, he said, “we find ourselves import-ing rice which drains our dollar reserves.”

Taking the world supply of cereals for example, statistics show that of the total quantity of grains being produced, less than three percent is being traded. A

slight decrease in the world’s cereal production even by just five percent will adversely affect many rice-producing countries.

“We do not want a repetition of the 1973 rice crisis during which our domestic supply of the commodity was very low,”said former food minister and admin-

istrator of the National Food Au-thority (NFA) Jesus Tanchanco.

He recalled: “We then had all the money to import our requirement and were even will-ing to buy at high prices, but we could not do so because even the traditional rice exporting coun-tries then withheld their exports because they also had their own supply problems.”

Rice is our most important food commodity. As such, its availability or scarcity would certainly affect the overall food situation.

Our population is growing very fast and so is the world’s. In fact, the population growth rate has outpaced the rate of food production. As a result, there is today a worldwide shortage of food. What compounds the situa-tion is the unexpected off and on occurrence of typhoons, drought and other natural calamities which greatly deplete the food reserves of the world.

Efforts to provide the Fili-pino with ample rice have been characterized by importations

'Rice is such an integral part of history and culture in the Philippines that

for many Filipinos, rice imports are a source of national shame.'



to supplement local production. However, we are convinced that importation, which cost us bil-lions of pesos every year, can be easily done away with if we will only exert determined and sustained efforts to develop our grains industry. Sa madaling salita, the government should double or triple its efforts (and investments) to achieve such goal.

The question frequently or usually asked when the subject of rice importation is being talked about, is: What makes rice im-portation so attractive?

Some two years back, former Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia made some revealing statements during an interview with Jess Diaz of the Philippine Star. He blamed the government’s policy of massive rice importation and on its failure to modernize ag-riculture.

The former House Speaker described rice importation as more lucrative than to produce it. It is common knowledge, he said, “that corrupt officials and their patrons pocket huge commission involved in rice imports.”

Here are some comments we received from the other members of the Commonwealth Caucus who were former and current mediamen and public relations practitioners:

Mart del Rosario, former UST journalism professor and noted PR practitioner: “Mahilig din lamang tayong manggaya, bakit hindi natin gayahin ang China, considered the most populous nation on earth. With 1.3 billion people to feed, China has popularized the production

of hybrid rice, so much so that it has not only substantially raised its food production but has also improved the living standards of its farmers. At nakakapag-export pa sila ng bigas sa ibang bansa.”

Eli Cinco, Manila Bulletin columnist: “While rice importa-

ang political will.”Jun Varela, former feature

editor of the Philippine News Agency (PNA): “ Puro na lang tayo import ng import from such countries as Thailand and Vietnam whose agriculturists are mostly graduates from our

more than P60 billion every year in rice importation but just a pittance or barely sufficient amount in rice production.”

Max Ballesteros, former media director of Food Termi-nal, Inc. (FTI): “Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala says he can make the country self-sufficient in rice in three years. That’s a tall order. By the way, ano naman itong nabasa ko recently, quoting NFA assistant administrator Jose Cordero as saying at a recent conference in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, that ‘We had to increase the vol-ume of importation (rice) this year as we had troubles with production. Same old reason.”

Alex Quibin, former vice president for PR, Meralco Foundation: “The Philippines is dubbed as the world’s No. 1 rice importer. Wala na akong masabi.”

Lito Gorospe, a veteran radioman and formerly with Malacanang Press Office: “I’ve nothing to say except, let’s stop rice importation once and for

'Rice is such an integral part of history and culture in the Philippines that

for many Filipinos, rice imports are a source of national shame.'

tion is a temporary remedy, the long-term solution to the coun-try’s rice requirements is massive production. Kailangan nga lang

agricultural schools.”Lysander Garcia, former

business editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “We are spending (Turn to page 8)



all. Sa tutuo lang, our country will never prosper unless we give agriculture the highest priority in our national recovery program. Yun lang.”

Malacanang has reacted to Senator Edgardo Angara’s earlier call on the government to focus on increasing the productivity of the agriculture sector instead of importing rice.

Malacanang wasted no time to issue a statement in reaction to what Angara had said. The Palace statement reads in part: “Importing rice is the immediate solution to the shortage on sup-ply for the country next year.”

According to Angara, who was former agriculture secretary, it is not good for the Philippines to be considered as the world’s largest importer of rice.

“That’s not a good situation for a country that consumes so much of this particular grain. We should make use of this resolve to reduce the amount we import as a chance to increase the rice

(From page 7)

sufficiency of the country,” was Angara’s advise.

In the book “Why does the Philippines Import Rice?” pub-lished by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Insti-tute (PhilRice), David C. Dawe said “rice is such an integral part of history and culture in the Philippines that for many Filipi-nos, rice imports are a source of national shame.”.

He said among the reasons often mentioned for the country’s failure to achieve rice self-suf-ficiency are faulty government policy, corruption, conversion of rice land to other uses, back-ward rice farmers, deteriorating irrigation systems, and lack of farm credit.

Dawe, who is from IRRI,

noted that Malaysia is the Asian country’s most reliant on rice imports which accounts for 29

Lanka, eight percent; Japan, six percent; and Indonesia, five percent.

Dawe said all these five coun-tries (including Malaysia) have consistently imported rice for at least the past century, adding that the Philippines has imported rice almost every year since 1969.

“The Philippines did achieve self-sufficiency in the 70s and even exported small quantities of rice in the early 80s. Why? Because the Green Revolution of irrigation, improved varieties and fertilizers were able to overcome the natural disadvantages in land endowment,” he said.

The best way to sustainably increase production is to in-vest in agricultural research and transportation structure, thereby providing farmers with more and better options in both production and marketing, he added.

SEN. ANGARA

percent of its consumption.Other countries that import

rice to meet a significant portion of demand, which percentages averaged for 1996-2003, are the Philippines, 12 percent; Sri

Cantos, who received P30,000 cash award from SL Agritech Corp., topped five other farmers in the province who participated

M’doro farmer is this year’shighest hybrid rice yielder

(From page 1)

in the hybrid rice production con-test being sponsored nationwide by the seed firm.

Second placer was Ronnie

Cayabyab of Bgy. Cabunang, Bu-lalacao, with a harvest of 243 ca-vans per hectare; Casiano Melgar of Bgy. Canubing, Calapan City, 235 cavans/hec. Bernabe Malicsi of Bgy. Roma Mansalay, 226 ca-vans/hec; and Conrado Balmes, Bgy. Tinkan, Naujan, 211 ca-vans/hec.They also received cash prizes from SL Agritech Corp., the country’s top producer of the high-yielding SL-8H hybrid rice seeds variety.

The awarding ceremony was held over the weekend at the Department of Agriculture (DA-ATI) office in Naujan, Ori-ental Mindoro, with Provincial Agriculturist Pedro Dimailig as special guest.

Joh Dungca, SL Agritech promotions manager, said Can-tos’ harvest when he first started to plant hybrid rice in 2005, was only 120 cavans per hectare.

“He (Cantos) said compared to his old record of only 60 to 70 cavans per hectare when he was planting the inbred rice variety,

120 to him, he said, was already something that has convinced him to go into hybrid rice farm-ing which, according to him, has tremendously increased his yearly production averaging 250 cavans per hectare.”

Number one in the SL Ag-ritech’s list of top hybrid rice farmers is Severino Payumo, a 69-year-old farmer of Barangay Biliran in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, with a record harvest of 345.6 cavans per hectare. Next to him is lady farmer Aida Badong of San Nicolas, Camarines Sur, with 345 cavans per hectare; and Fernando Gabuyo, also of Nueva Ecija, with 335 cavans per hectare.

The rest are rice farmers from Ilocos Norte, Cagayuan, Isabela, Pangsasinan, Tarlac, Zamboanga del Sur, North Cota-bato, Camarines Sur and Oriental and Occidental Mindoro. Their average production per hectare using the SL-8H hybrid rice seeds is 250 cavans.

Rice bran is no longer just good for hog feed. It is also an ex-cellent source of healthy and nutritious cooking oil, according to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

Results of experiments which started only in 2005 showed that rice bran from a glutinous variety IMS2 and the still popular inbred variety IR64 are loaded with vitamins E and D, crude protein and calories from fat.

Former PhilRice Executive Director Leocadio S. Sebastian said rice bran oil has been acknowledged worldwide as the “healthiest” plant-based edible oil because it contains significant amount of vitamins, anti-oxidants and nutrients. At the same time, he said, it is trans-fat free.

At present, health-conscious countries like the United States, Japan and Australia have been reportedly importing rice bran oil as substitute for animal-based oil as well as other vegetable oil. Rice bran cooking oil was first tried in India.

RICE BRANNot just for hog feed



be receptive in adopting modern farming technologies and prac-tices to further increase your harvest and income.”

SL Agritech, the country’s top producer of hybrid rice seeds, is sponsoring rice harvest festivals practically all over the country

Maintain Nueva Ecija’s lead as top rice producer

(From page 1)

GALURA

to promote the benefits of hybrid rice technology.

According to Cathy Galura, executive vice president for ope-ration of SL Agritech, every year since 2006, the firm has been holding rice harvest festivals all over the country. Dito naipaki-

kita ng mga magsasakang nag-tatanim ng hybrid rice ang laki ng kanilang inaaning palay. Kung sino ang makakapagtala ng pinakamalaking ani ay may matatanggap na kaukulang gan-timpala.

According to her, the Bureau

of Agricultrual Statistics (BAS) has conducted a survey in Leyte, Davao del Norte and Isabela, where it said, hybrid rice farmers from the three provinces, more than doubled their harvest and dra-matically increased their income, compared to those planting the inbred seeds.

Galura said Nueva Ecija, Isa-bela and Cagayan are the top three provinces planting hybrid rice which recorded 29 to 48 percent yield advantage over certified or inbred seeds.

“Our country has seen the benefits of hybrid rice not only in increasing production but also in raising farmers’ income,” Galura said, as she mentioned several hybrid rice farmers among them Severino Payumo of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, whose record harvest was 345.6 cavans per hectare; Aida Badong of Camarines Sur, with 345 cavans per hecrare; Fernando Gabuyo, also of Nueva Ecija, 335 cavans; Rosalie Ellasus of San Jacinto, Pangasinan, 257; and Tom Gimenez of Rizal, Occidental Min-doro, 238 cavans per hectare.

She said five Asian countries are now adopting the hybrid rice technology of his firm. These, he said, are Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria and the latest is Vietnam, which is one of the world’s richest agricultural regions and the world’s seventh largest consumer of rice.

“These countries signed agree-ments with us to use our high-yielding SL-8H super hybrid rice technology to meet their growing demand for the cereal,” she said.

Cambodia and Burma have earlier sent feelers signifying their intention to also use the same tech-nology of SL Agritech.

ALCALA WITH COMMONWEALTH CAUCUS MEMBERSAgriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala (seated, 3rd from left) paid a surprise visit to the Commonwealth Caucus which meets every Friday at a coffeeshop at Ever Gotesco in Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City. Commonwealth Caucus is composed of former and current mediamen

and PR practitioners. Those in photo are (front row, from left) Max Ballesteros, Ely Cinco, Bert Lumauig, Sanny Galvez and Alex Quibin. Standing are (from left) Jake Espino, Mart del Rosario, Jun Varela and Conrad Cariño. Not in photo are Roman Floresca, Lysander Garcia and Lito Gorospe.

(PICTURE TO FOLLOW)

eight MT.The medium term involves

construction of farm-to- market roads, and repair and construction of irrigation facilities. The long term would need more invest-ments in infrastructure including a guarantee that all rice lands is the country will be provided ir-rigation.

For the short term, govern-ment should find ways to im-mediately release the budget as farmers are already planting for the wet season and will be ready to plant for next year’s dry season by September to October.

Lim said the DA should push through with its previous plan of raising the subsidy from P1,000

DA urged to provide...(From page 4)

to P2,000 per hectare.“Right now, there are a lot of

mayors providing for subsidy like those in Aparri and Cagayan. If DA raises the subsidy to P2,000. farmers will only have to pay P1,700,” said Lim.

The country should focus on propagating hybrid rice, Lim said, even as Vietnam is already pursuing hybrid rice planting despite its having vast, irrigated lands that can yield enough for its own needs and even for export. Vietnam is world’s largest rice exporter.

On the other hand, the Philip-pines is the world’s largest rice importer with an estimated 2.475 million MT or rice imports for

2010.Nevertheless, government

has plans of raising hybrid rice area to 500,000 hectares by 2011 and to 800,000 hectares by 2013 so as to achieve at least a 95 per-cent rice sufficiency.

The previous government has not achieved rice sufficiency even if this has been planned since 2001 during which time DA planned to become sufficient by 2004 after planting hybrid rice on 300,000 hectares.

The rice sector has been hounded by higher rice import volume that has been coupled with charges of corruption in these import transactions.

(Reprinted from Manila Bul-letin, July 13, 2010).


Studies have shown that brown rice is a functional food which has a significant role in improving functions of the alimentary system and in fight-ing diseases such as metabolic disorders, cardiovascular dis-eases, and even certain types of cancer.

With this in mind, Abbie Yabot, lactation councillor

Breastfeed with Brown Rice

pregnancy stage, after birth, and to raising the child.

She explained, “There are such things as contracting and expanding food. Contracting food are those that are bad for breastfeeding. This includes any-thing starchy and anything that’s white. So this is where brown rice comes in—to replace white rice, pasta, or flour, since it’s the

maintains that breast milk is the ideal food for newborns and infants as it contains antibodies that help protect these children from common childhood ill-nesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.

“So it is really significant for mothers to have

c o n s t a n t breast

milk supply and that is with the help of brown rice since it is able to keep their sug-ar level, cholesterol levels, and weight in check while pregnant, which translates to avoiding many complica-tions linked with pregnancy,” emphasized Yabot.

Lastly, she said, “Mothers may also start feeding their babies with mashed brown rice after the period of exclu-sive breastfeeding, because

this will guarantee their babies to have a good

start.” By good s tar t ,

Yabot meant, an all-natural, no preserva-tives, first and solid meal encounter for their babies.

So, take the first step to a healthy! Introduce

brown rice to you and your family, most especially your kids today.

certified by the Department of Health, has decided to in-clude brown rice in her list of food that is recommended to women, especially mothers who are about to or who are currently breast feeding their babies. Part of her motivation to recommend the unpolished variety is from personal expe-rience. She has seen and felt the effects of brown rice to her family after she regularly served Dona Maria Jasponica Brown rice at home.

According to Yabot, who is also a local leader for La Leche League, an interna-tional group whose mission is to promote breastfeeding, switching to brown rice will have a three-part benefit to women and their babies—from

opposite.”Yabot added, “Expanding

food, or those that are packed with nutrients and fibre such as brown rice, help g r e a t l y in the ex-pansion of health. These then expand the breastmilk supply.”

The impor-tance of this, ac-cording to Yabot, is to ensure child health and sur-vival.

Addition-ally, the World Health Organi-zation (WHO)

It is an age-old saying that mothers know best. That said, whether a new or an experienced mom, she must know the fact that breast milk is still best for babies. However, there is one thing that they don’t know yet: that brown rice is also good for them and their babies.

Expanding food, or those that are packed with

nutrients and fibre such as brown rice, help greatly in the

expansion of health.


Five Calapan, Mindoro hybrid rice farmers who were adjudged SL Agritech’s ‘Highest Hybrid Rice Yielders’ are shown after receiving the cash prizes and certificates of recognition from Cathy Galura (right), senior VP for operation of the firm. From left are Joh E. Dungca, ad-vertising and promotions manager of SL Agritech; Mr.

Petronilo L. Dimailig, provincial agriculturist of Oriental Mindoro; Conrado Balmes (5th place, who harvested 210.33 cavans per hectare); Leandro Cantos (1st place, 269.73 cavans); Ronnie Cabayao (2nd place, 243 cavans); Casiano Melgar (3rd place, 234.66 cavans); and Bernabe Malicsi (4th place, 225.60 cavans).

MAGSASAKANGMATATAASMAGSIPAG-ANI NG HYBRID RICE

SA KABUKIRANAng kuhang katulad nito, na pinamagatan naming SA KABUKIRAN, ay isa lamang sa mga magagandang tanawin nating makikita tuwing panahon ng anihan ng palay na ating mamamasdan sa iba't-ibang bukirin sa

buong bansa. Simula sa isyung ito, amin pang ilalarawan ang iba't-ibang magagandang tanawin tulad ng kuhang ito na sa aming palagay ay makapagbibigay ng kasiyahang-loob sa bawat isa sa atin.

INILUNSAD NG SL AGRITECHPARA PAUNLARIN ANG

PAGTATANIM NG HYBRID RICE

'GO NEGOSYO SA PALAYAN'

Maglulunsad ang SL Agritech ng panibagong programa na lalu pang magpa-paunlad ng kabuhayan ng mga maliliit na magsasaka sa bansa at ito'y bilang na rin sa pagsuporta sa programa ng pamahalaan na nauukol sa seguridad sa pagkain.

Binansagan ang programang ito na "Go, Negosyo sa Palayan," na ang tang-ing layunin ay hindi lamang mapalago ang kanilang aning palay kundi gayundin na mapaunlad ang kanilang kabuhayan sa pagtatanim ng hybrid rice.

Ayon kay Henry Lim, chairman at chief executive officer ng SL Agritech Corpora-tion, isang business group ang itinatag ng nasabing kumpanya na siyang maglalaan ng kaukulang pondo-pinansyal na siyang gagamitin sa nasabing proyekto na ina-

asahan na maikakalap sa buong bansa para na rin masilbihan ang mga magsasakang nagtatanim ng SL-8H hybrid rice.

"Bibigyan namin ng prayoridad ang mga hybrid rice farmer sa lugar na may mga patubig at pati na rin ang mga grupo ng mga farmer's irrigators, kooperatiba ng mga magsasaka at ipa pang grupo na layun-ing sumapi sa Go Negosyo sa Palayan.

Ang SL Agritech na itinuturing na pinakamalaki sa buong bansa na prodyuser ng pinakamataas na uri ng hybrid rice seed na kilala sa pangalang SL-8H, ay hindi lamang ipo-provide sa mga ssasali sa pro-gramang ito ng binhi ng nasabing palay kundi gayundin ang kaukulang teknolohiya.

Ayon din kay Lim, ang mga magsasaka at iba pang grupo na sasali sa programang

ito ay magbabayad lamang ng kanilang biniling punla o hybrid seeds sa oras lamang ng kanilang pag-aani at sa ganitong paraan, "napakalaking tulong ang aming maibibigay na kaluwagan sa kanila.

"Kung dati-rati, ang problema ng mga magsasaka ay kung saan sila kukuha ng pam-bili ng punla na kanilang itatanim. Ngayon dahil sa programang ito na Go Negosyo sa Palayan, hindi na muna nila problema ang puhunan dahil mismong ang progarama na ito tutulong sa kanila sa bagay na ito. Sa madaling sabi, makapagtatanim na sila kaagad-agad na hindi na nila iintindihin pa ang magiging gastusin kundi sa oras na la-mang ng kanilang pag-aani," ayon kay Lim.

Para mapamalagi ang proyektong ito, isang tinatawag na Special Monitoring Team ang binuo ng SL Agritech Corp., at ito'y kinabibilangan ng mga representante ng Go Negosyo sa Palayan business group, Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Units (DA-RFUs), Local Government Units (LGUs) at Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

Isang Memorandum of Agreement ang pagtitibayin ng grupong ito sa lalong madal-ing panahon para agad na mailunsad ang programang Go Negosyo sa Palayan.

Iba't-ibang uri ng kemikal gamit ng mga magsasaka sa pagtatanim at pag-aalaga ng palay, mangga, kamote, sibuyas, munggo, mais at maging tabako, bulak, cocoa at pakwan ay bibigyan ng ibayong pagpapakalap hindi lamang upang maturuan sila ng wastong paggamit ng mga ito kundi para lalo pang lumaki at lumago ang kanilang mga aanihing panamim.

Ang proyektong ito ay isasagawa ng SL Biotech Corporation, isang kumpayang pag-aari ng SL- Agritech Corp., ang prodyuser ng mataas na uring SL-8H hybrid rice seed na karaniwang itinatanim ng mga magsasaka sa buong bansa.

Ang ilan sa mga uri ng pestisibong ilulunsad ay ang BLB Stopper 20SC. Ito ay isang uri ng bacteriaside fungiside na epektibong panlaban sa Bacterial Leaf Blight sap mga palay. Ang kemikal na ito ay nasa kanyang bagong pabalat o sukat (mula sa 40ml sachet), at ito ay mabibili na ngayon sa bagong packaging na 120ml kada bote.

Ang Jolina 2.5EC at Zukol 70WP. Ang dalawang ito ay mananatili sa kanilang mga pabalat. Ang Jolina 2.5EC ay isang matinding insecticide laban sa mga pan-gunahing insekto ng mga pananim (bigas, manga, kamatis, sibuyas, munggo, mais, tabako, bulak, cocoa at pakwan). Ito ay mabibili pa rin sa kanyang mga pack sizes na: 1L, 500ml, at 250ml. Isang pamatay kuhol naman ang Zukol 70WP. Isa itong mabilis na pamatay sa kuhol habang pinananatiling ligtas ang tao at ibang mga hayop na maaaring nasa palayan – green label. Ito ay mabibili pa rin sa 35g/sachet.

Ang mga nasabing kemikal ay mabibili na sa mga authorized agri-dealers na-tionwide simula sa buwan ng Pebrero ng taong ito.

MGA KEMIKAL SA PAGPAPALAGO NG ANING PALAY AT IBA'T-IBANG PANANIM

gov't urged to take decisive steps to stop rice smuggling

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