And what does “GMA Rice” do? Let's hear from the horse's mouth. Following are excerpts of an interview with a junior agriculturist from the Nueva Vizcaya Agriculture Office who asked not to be named.
GMA Rice is hinged on the promotion of hybrid rice production technology. Hybrid rice is a product of cross-pollinating two parent rice varieties to get the best properties of both. Hybrid rice requires a more intensive and input-heavy culture to attain the desired higher production volume, estimated to go beyond the usual 3.5-4.5 metric tons per hectare to as much as 6-8 metric tons per hectare. Under the program’s seed component, a farmer is given 20-40 kilogram of hybrid rice seeds per hectare, either free or at a subsidized price depending on the preferred variety.
“GMA Rice” offers fertilizer and micro-nutrient restoration support. It was here that the still unresolved P728-million fertilizer scam originated. For every 20 kilogram hybrid seed given out, 6-8 bags of fertilizers come with it depending on the location. Earlier, micro-nutrient sources such as Zinc sulfate and lime are also packaged to combat Zinc deficiency and soil acidity, a consequence of not allowing the land in most irrigated rice production areas to fallow or rest.
“The fertilizers delivered in Nueva Vizcaya as part of the fertilizer scam are not actually commercial fertilizers. These are bacterial soil conditioners packed in bags that if computed, these are worth more than PhP13,000 each bag,” the source revealed. The practice of using bacterial soil conditioning agent is new to farmers, and for lack of takers, more of these are just left to rot at the provincial nursery.
When the new local government code took effect in 1992, thousands of employees of the Department of Agriculture were devolved to local governments. After 16 years, the umbilical cord with the agency has not been detached. A large chunk of the GMA program funds are earmarked for incentives of local government unit employees who are made implementers of the GMA program. This explains why devolved personnel’s loyalty remains with the DA, and very few local governments are implementing an agricultural development program they can call their own.
The remarkable increase in yield as a result of rice hybridization technology motivated DA to offer it as a solution to the problem of rice shortage. But farmers are not buying the idea. “Practical considerations in rice seedling production discourage farmers to go hybrid. Aside from the fact that hybrid seeds are expensive, traditional farm laborers are used to planting rice seedlings at a higher density per hill which makes the prescribed 20 kilogram seeds not enough for one hectare,” the source said. Other considerations include the susceptibility of some hybrid rice varieties to diseases. Some hybrid rice varieties promoted commercially are prone to bacterial leaf blight, and recognizing this, DA included pesticides and fungicides in the package to encourage farmers to go hybrid to control pests spreading the disease.
According to the source, during the first years of the implementation of the hybrid rice program, farmer’s had a bad experience with the seeds procured from Monsanto. “Some farmers went broke because they used the seeds we promoted. Natakot na nga kami magfield baka habulin kami ng itak (We were afraid to have our fieldwork, they might run after us with their bolos on),” the source narrated.
While Monsanto failed, other big companies made good with their brand of hybrid rice, such as Syngenta’s Bigante.
