Rice is a staple food for Filipinos and a key source of income of more than 2 million rice farmers in The Philippines. Nonetheless yields have been low in comparison to other Asian countries. Most of the varieties planted are still inbreds. The hybrid rice technology however has been growing steadily with Arize® being the brand of choice for quality hybrid rice seeds. 

Arize Hybrid Rice seeds can be planted all year-round both in wet or dry season and in any rice culture (irrigated or rainfed, transplanted or direct-seeded). Four Arize hybrids, fit for different market segments in the Philippines, are commercially available: Arize Bigante Plus, Habilis Plus, AZ 7888, and the newest hybrid -- Arize AZ 8433 DT. All these hybrid varieties have built-in tolerance to BLB, allowing farmers to be more assured of achieving yield and quality, even during the wet season. 

Arize® Tolerance Traits:

Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) Tolerance
BLB is a common disease that afflicts severe damage to fields, especially during the rainy season, and against which there is presently no chemical cure. Bayer CropScience was the first to introduce a hybrid in Asia with in-built tolerance to BLB. Today, this trait is being progressively incorporated into all Arize hybrids to protect against this threat during the wet months.
 

Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) Tolerance
Insects such as the BPH are capable of destroying entire fields of rice. This migratory pest is resistant to most plant protection products and can induce severe yield losses by sucking the sap of rice plants and introducing viruses that cause serious setbacks to harvests. Bayer CropScience launched the very first dual trait hybrid rice variety in the Philippines that has tolerance for both BLB and BPH – Arize® AZ 8433 DT. This ensures that farmers have a first line of defense against this unpredictable pest.