The Philippine Hybrid Rice Program: A Case for Redesign and Scaling Down

Promotion of hybrid rice has been the central goal of the government's rice production program since 2001. Yet, farmers' adoption rate has remained low despite concerted efforts and massive subsidies. The highly subsidized approach of the program has been not just ineffective but costly in terms of wasting scarce budgetary resources, compromising the government's regulatory functions, promoting corruption, and distorting farmers' choice of varieties. The government should remove the present system of subsidies on hybrid seeds and related agricultural inputs which are all private goods in nature.