Survey and collection of unclassified rice planted in Central Luzon [Philippines]

In the Philippines, Central Luzon has the most number of rice growing provinces and most of number of seed growers with nationwide coverage. Despite the numerous release of new varieties, farmers continuously cultivate unclassified rice varieties for various reasons. These unclassified rice are those planted that did not passé the formal seed system under National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) or possibly a sort of marketing or branding scheme to increase revenue of accredited or non-accredited seed growers and seed companies. This study aimed to survey, collect and document unclassified rice among the six rice-growing provinces in Central Luzon through key informants (KIs), focus group discussions (FGD) and Interview with local extension focal persons for each municipality in the province. A total of 28 unclassified rice were collected, with Nueva Ecija having the most unclassified rice (29%) while both Bataan and Zambales had the least (7% each). Thirty-six percent of the unclassified rice had unknown origin according to the farmers. The main reason for using these unclassified rice according to conducted KI and FGD was because of its high-yielding and good eating quality while, in some areas the reasons include the available free seeds and for trial. Among the unclassified rice, 'Diamond X' and 'Double Diamond X' topped the list in terms of frequency being planted. Results showed the existence of unclassified rice area planted and distributed in Central Luzon. Increase in monitoring and regulation of these unclassified rice is necessary and sanctions to any entity or distributing company should be enforced. Consequently, there is a need for more stringent policies in branding and distribution of seeds among the farmers. The presence of such unclassified seeds in the seed system jeopardize the efforts of breeders and extension workers in promoting the use of registered seeds and technologies that comes with them in order to achieve a rice secure Philippines.