Integration and clustering are seen as vital mechanisms to drive progress in rural farming communities; entrepreneurs convened at the Philippine Rice Research Institute said. In a recent seminar conducted at PhilRice in Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Ramon Peñalosa Jr., farmer scientist, said that attaining 1M income from agriculture is possible with integration. “Integrated farming is like a 1+1 = 50, it’s a no-brainer. You can go from the […]

There’s a bothering statistics that can hardly be ignored: 355,000 are annually killed, with about half occurring in agriculture; 41 million suffer including children and infants; and 25 million workers are annually poisoned. The numbers, according to the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, an organization that advances environmental sustainability, are due to the use of chemical pesticides that can cause chronic diseases including cancer and diseases of the […]

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Dr. Hilal Elver (second from left) visited PhilRice in Nueva Ecija to familiarize herself with the Institute’s initiatives in support to UN’s advocacy on food security, Feb. 24. According to the Department of Agriculture Office of the Secretary, Elver is on a mission in the Philippines until February 27, 2015 to assess the efforts being made in the country to achieve […]

Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija – The science community here celebrated the county’s sustained good harvest in an exhibit dubbed as “Bountiful Harvest,” at the Rice Science Museum, Feb. 23.  Early this month, Sec. Proceso J. Alcala of the Department of Agriculture announced that the Philippine agriculture in 2014 has achieved growth despite “strong typhoons that battered some key production areas.” Palay output reached 19 million metric tons or […]

An alternative source that does not rely on fossil fuels was established in Infanta, Quezon to help supply the energy demand in rice and rice-based communities, Jan. 29. Located in Brgy. Binonoan, the bioethanol distillation facility produces energy without negative impact on environment as nipa sap is processed into biofuel for spark-ignition engines that farmers commonly use. Nipa is an indigenous product of Infanta. “This facility built basically produces hydrous […]

Edilberto M. De Luna, assistant secretary of the Department of Agriculture accepts the challenge of leading PhilRice as he was designated officer-in-charge of the institute upon the retirement of former Executive Director Eufemio T. Rasco Jr., Feb. 3.  Rasco turned 65 on Feb. 3. The search for the new executive director is ongoing. “I accept the challenge being assigned as OIC of PhilRice until a new executive director is selected. […]

In more than three years as PhilRice executive director, Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco, Jr. has stood with his conviction to swing rice R&D direction from the rice crop to the rice farmer.   “When you focus on the rice farmer, you begin to realize that the rice environment is not only about rice. There are many things you can do in the rice environment with the rice farmers so that you […]

Our new brand of farmers comes from different backgrounds. Each farmers has his/her own story worth telling. Collectively, they present new waves of ideas, of innovations, of passion, and of inspiration. The young ones and the young once have proven that agriculture transcends prejudice, culture, status, and generation, even time.