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Allied Botanical to sell new hybrid rice seed


Vegetable seed producer Allied Botanical Corp. is set to introduce new hybrid-rice-seed varieties to the local market next month. "We have varieties both for the dry and wet seasons that we call Mestiso 12 and Mestiso 14," Rommel Lopez, communications manager of Allied Botanical, told reporters at the sidelines of an assessment and planning workshop for rice at the Agriculture Department. Lopez said the Mestiso variety may yield as much as 8 metric tons (MT) per hectare as against other hybrid varieties that have an output of 6 to 7 MT per hectare. Allied Botanical, through a partnership with Chinese seed manufacturer Yuan Longping High Tech Co., developed the Mestiso parent line for 3 to 4 years. Longping Allied Hybrid Research and Development Inc., the merger firm of Yuan Longping and Allied Botanical, will exclusively distribute the Mestiso hybrid seeds across the Philippines, said Lopez. He said hybrid seed producers in the Philippines have a huge prospect for growth. "Market figures show that only 20 percent of rice seeds used in the Philippines is hybrid. The Philippines remains a very attractive market to seed growers, especially hybrid seed companies," said Lopez. To achieve rice-sufficiency status by 2013, the Philippine government focuses on the use of both certified and hybrid rice seeds. It gives a subsidy of P1,000 per hectare to farmers who use hybrid seeds. By 2011, the government said it may reduce rice subsidy to P600 per hectare. Apart from Allied Botanical, other major players in the hybrid rice-seed market are Bayer CropScience and SL Agritech. —JE, GMANews.TV

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