MANILA, Philippines?Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has started testing new rice varieties developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), including one that will be helpful to farmers during rainy seasons.

"The regions started the seed production of the flood-tolerant variety," PhilRice director Frisco Malabanan said in an interview.

He said the variety was already up for approval by the National Seed Industry Council.
According to IRRI, the NSIC's approval is expected to come late this year.

Crop losses due to flooding average about 250,000 tons every year, according to IRRI. About 370,000 hectares of rice-growing land in the Philippines are vulnerable to flooding.

IRRI's new flood-tolerant rice, called IR64-Sub1, can tolerate more than two weeks under water.

The variety was developed through a research funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Federal Government of Germany.

IRRI has also developed a drought-tolerant variety (IR74371-54-1-1) for upland areas and a salt-tolerant variety (IR63307-4B-4-3) for coastal areas.

The drought-tolerant variety, developed with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation and the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) Generation Challenge Programme, is targeted for about 1.18 million hectares of upland rice ecosystems.

The salt-tolerant variety, meanwhile, developed with financial help from the Federal Government of Germany and the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme, can be planted to 400,000 hectares of coastal land.

IRRI said in a statement that when the new varieties were approved, basic seeds would be available to seed growers and selected farmers.