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LOS BANOS, Philippines: The Philippines on Friday signed an agreement with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help it to grow enough rice to feed its own people within three years.
IRRI president Robert Zeigler said the institute would "join forces with the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Rice Research Institute to ramp up Philippine rice production".
The Philippines is one of the world's largest rice importers. President Gloria Arroyo witnessed the signing of the broad-ranging accord at the IRRI headquarters in a town south of Manila.
Manila has been scrambling to boost stocks and supply cheap rice to the poor as rice prices soared to near-record levels in recent months amid increased demand, crop failures, a shift to biofuels production or other land uses, and poor investment in the farm sector.
Zeigler said the agreement would help steer Manila "towards self-sufficiency". Manila said it now imports about 10 percent of its domestic rice requirement.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said collaboration with IRRI would cover all four million hectares (9.88 million acres) of farmland planted with rice.
The agreement encompasses irrigation, high-yield hybrid varieties, credit support, technical advise for farmers, and construction of storage facilities to address the country's five percent-plus yield losses through spoilage.
"Pretty soon farmers would be able to access and breed seeds that are tolerant to certain diseases, flooding and dry spells" which are being developed by IRRI, Yap said.
Manila earlier announced fresh investments of 43 billion pesos (about one billion dollars) over two years to attain rice self-sufficiency.
Yap said the government had already contracted enough rice for this year, and additional purchases would be made for buffer stocks.
- AFP/so
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