Global news wire service China News Service on Tuesday revealed that the Philippines has been embracing the plantation of hybrid rice as it was said to be solving the quality problem of rice in tropical countries.

Citing data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), the report said that for 2019 alone, the Xiling Company’s “Xiling Series” hybrid rice has been embraced and planted already in some 450,000 hectares of land across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Nearly 100 Philippine farmers have been awarded so far by the Xiling Company for the production of more than 15 tons per hectare due to the cultivation of the said series of hybrid rice.

The hybrid rice – founded by Yuan Longping and being developed in the Philippines — not only produces high yields but also solves the quality problem of rice in tropical countries.

In June 1999, the Chinese and Philippine governments signed an agreement on China’s “Helping the Philippines to Develop Hybrid Rice” initiative.

On the same year, Zhang Zhaodong, who taught genetics and breeding at Hunan Lingling Agricultural School, was appointed by Longping to board the Philippines and cooperate with Chinese tycoon Lin Yuqing to develop, invest and promote tropical hybrid rice.

In 2003, Zhaodong’s technical team selected Xiling 8 and 9 series from the native wild rice in the Philippines with Longping’s hybrid rice technology, due to its highest yield reaching 17 tons per hectare.

The hybrid rice was promoted and planted by the Philippine Ministry of Agriculture and was deemed highly respected by Philippine farmers.

“This hybrid rice will be the seed of a new year that Filipino farmers are competing to buy,” Zhaodong was quoted as saying in an interview at the Tropical Hybrid Rice Base in Laguna.

“Each hybrid rice should be rooted in its unique living environment, and there are no constant rice seeds, which must constantly innovate and adapt to the new environment, so the ‘rice’ is always changing. Here each nursery is a different experiment, and we have selected several generations of seeds in advance,” he added.

Laguna was recognized by the world’s rice experts for the selection of soil, climate, and water sources or hybrid rice seedings in the tropics.

Apart from the Philippines, Zhaodong and Yuqing also expanded the production of tropical hybrid rice to Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.