SL Agritech exports 100 metric tons of fancy rice

SL Agritech Corp. has shipped out 100 metric tons (MT) of the Doña Maria hybrid rice to Dubai, boosting the country’s fancy rice exports this year.

In a statement, SL Agritech said its rice shipment to Dubai would be distributed via a big international retail chain. SL Agritech added that it expects to regularly export to the Filipino market there.

“This rice is really being awaited by Filipinos in Dubai,” Michelle Lim-Gankee, SL Agritech assistant to the chair, said in a statement.

Agriculture Undersecretary Dante S. Delima said in a separate statement that 300 MT of rice had so far been shipped out by the Philippines.

“We didn’t really anticipate that the response of the international market to our rice would be warm,” said Delima.

Delima said the Department of Agriculture would continue to tap opportunities to export fancy rice and at the same time sustain efforts to make the Philippines self-sufficient in rice.

The country imported just 187,000 MT of rice this year, ending decades of massive importation that peaked at 2.4 million tons in 2010.

Hybrid rice area in the Philippines is just at 150,000 hectares, and Gankee said an additional 500,000 hectares of hybrid rice area would easily make Philippines produce an incremental two million MT of rice. That will be more than enough to offset the 187,000 MT of imports in 2013.

That is given the fact that hybrid rice has proven to be capable of raising farmers’ yield by four MT per hectare from the national average yield placed at about 3.5 MT to 3.8 MT per hectare.

By just converting inbred rice into hybrids and following best cultural practices, farmers can harvest 8 MT per hectare, or even more.

“That will be an additional two million tons that can feed 13 million people. We’re proud that this is a premium rice that the export market finds easy to accept. We’re happy to be supporting [the government] for the Philippines to have a world-class quality product,” Gankee said.

DA aided companies in the export through the issuance of a special export permit.

The Philippines has not been exporting rice due to the need to produce enough food for local consumption.

Delima said the maiden shipment of 15 MT of organic black rice from Cotabato produced by the Don Bosco Multipurpose Cooperative (MPC) and 20 MT of Jasponica and Miponica Dona Maria brown and white rice in May this year was really just for testing.

“Our export really has a very good effect on the international market. The purpose of our export program was just for testing so we could determine if other countries will find our rice as an alternative to those that are already in the global market. And the effect has been very positive,” he said.

Special types of rice produced in the Cordillera Region—the Unoy and Tinawon from the rice terraces—were also exported in September.

“Our export is focused on premium special rice, like we produce heirloom rice from Cordillera. There is no other country that produces Tinawon, Unoy, or our other heirloom varieties. So we need to maximize the price advantage of our rice in the world market,” Delima said.