HYBRID rice producer SL Agritech Corp. expects to record about P2 billion in sales for its 2010-2011 fiscal year, double the latest figure as it intensifies marketing activities for its rice variants. SL Agritech President Henry Lim Bon Liong told BusinessWorld his firm logged in about P1 billion from sales for the 2009-2010 fiscal year that ended last May.“We are very optimistic that we can achieve the target for the next fiscal year because of our current aggressive marketing strategy, especially for our rice variants,” Mr. Lim said.

 SL Agritech exports hybrid rice seeds to Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam, Mr. Lim also said. But the company’s focus is “supplying to the domestic market.”
Mr. Lim said the new administration should promote hybrid rice to achieve the target of rice self-sufficiency by 2013. The Philippines, the world’s biggest rice importer, plans to import 2.5 million tons of the staple this year.

“If they want to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2013, there should be hybrid rice promotion because the yield is about two or three times higher than [that of] certified seeds,” Mr. Lim said.

The government should invest about P5 billion next year to subsidize hybrid rice farming, he added.

The government’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Rice Program is allocating only P500 million for assistance to hybrid farmers next year, 40% higher than this year’s allocation of P350 million, program director Frisco M. Malabanan said last June.

Mr. Lim said promoting hybrid rice should be a short-term approach to achieve the rice self-sufficiency target.

“Areas planted to hybrid rice should be expanded to 500,000 hectares next year and 800,000 hectares in 2013,” he said.

This year, the Department of Agriculture expects 287,703 hectares of land to yield hybrid rice. In 2009, land devoted to hybrid rice reached 191,368 hectares, data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed.

Mr. Lim said the medium-term measure in attaining rice self-sufficiency should be the repair of irrigation canals.

The long-term approach should be the construction of a new dam, he added.

SL Agritech has plantations for the development of hybrid seeds in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, and India.

In the Philippines, the company has plantations in Laguna and in Davao Oriental.

SL Agritech is a subsidiary of the Sterling Paper group of companies that started in 1998 as an unincorporated entity performing research work on hybrid rice. It sells rice under the Doña Maria brand. -- Kathleen A. Martin