BAGUIO CITY-Farmers in the Cordillera have raised fears that genetically engineered rice seeds introduced by the government in the region will displace indigenous rice seeds used by farmers throughout the centuries.  

A study conducted by the Cordillera Women's Education and Resource Center said farmers in traditional Cordillera farming communities had labeled the genetically engineered rice varieties as "suicide seeds" because of their effects on their crop production.  

The study said the seeds-Rc-54 and IR 64-have caused low productivity in Cordillera farmlands after these were used as alternatives for the indigenous variety of rice seeds.  

The Rc-54 variety became popular to local farmers because it grew faster than the native variety when it was introduced to farmers of Tinglayan, Kalinga.  

Used as a second crop, this variety, according to farmers, could also be harvested sooner than the native varieties.   Local farmers, however, said the Rc-54 variety needs more chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  

The CWERC study said farmers pointed to the IR 64 variety as the culprit  in the decreasing yield of their farms.  

"Some said that after three croppings, the volume of rice harvested was no longer as much as the volume (the farmers) were able to harvest during the first cropping," the study said.  

The study said local farmers are also forced to buy the seeds that drain their limited cash as indigenous varieties are slowly disappearing in the region's farmlands.  

But the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) said the government did not foresee the problem of Cordillera farmers with the entry of genetically engineered rice seeds.  

"These modern varieties were not meant to 'kill,' let alone displace, the indigenous rice variety in the Cordillera or anywhere else. The modern varieties were introduced so that Cordillera farmers may have more rice varieties to choose from when they plant," PhilRice, in a faxed statement to the INQUIRER, said. Desiree Caluza, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau