Hybrid rice production Declining in Asia

The East Asia Rice Working Group (EARWG) revealed that hybrid rice production in some parts of Asia – most notably in China where the "hybrid vigor", or heterosis, was first noted in the mid-1960s – have waned over the past decade.

A number of Filipino farmers, who were disappointed over the poor performance of the hybrid rice varieties they acquired, are starting to reject it at the rate of 80 percent each planting season since they started adopting it in 1998.

These developments were contained in two reports presented last week by EARWG,a network of non-government organizations and civil society groups working on rice and rice trade issues in the region that includes rice advocacy group Rice Watch Action Network (R1) at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) here.