The technology is not for small farmers. It also found out that outbreak of diseases such as downey mildew, false smut and kernel smut occurred frequently on hybrid rice. The survey conducted in China revealed that any yield increase resulting from the use of hybrid was partly offset by increased chemical inputs. A further limitation to hybrid rice production in China is the breeding process itself. Hybrid rice seed production is a labour and skill-intensive activity and the yields are low at around 2 metric tonnes per hectare.
Hybrid rice poses even more serious threat.
It is an extremely uniform crop and the varieties available in Asia rely exclusively on a single wild and only a handful of different maintainers or restorer lines. In China, where hybrid rice comprises about 50 per cent of rice lands, there has been a 46-fold reduction in local varieties being grown over the last 40 years. It is significant that the transnational corporations, which dominate private hybrid rice research and development are also the world's biggest pesticide and biotechnology companies. Within a short span of time, large pesticide companies of the world have captured the seed market. Furthermore, these companies control around 80 per cent of all the research and development in agriculture biotechnology.