The Philippines is a net importer of inorganic fertilizers. Significant changes in the world market can greatly impact the country’s fertilizer industry. In 2021-2022, the prices of fertilizer raw materials surged and global supply tightened because of the pandemic, China’s export restrictions and the conflict between the two major producers of inorganic fertilizers, Russia and Ukraine (Baffes and Koh, 2022) contributed to these scenarios. Consequently, the domestic inorganic fertilizer prices […]

Manual transplanting is the dominant rice crop establishment method in the Philippines. This partially causes the high labor cost that drives up rice production cost in the country, along with the inflating fertilizer and fuel prices. Consequently, it has become more challenging to make farmers competitive with the cheap imported rice from neighboring countries. This policy brief explores the viability of transitioning from transplanted rice (TPR) to direct-seeded rice (DSR) […]

Managing water resources has become extremely important with respect to major climate woes. In the Philippines, occurrences of El Niño have been more frequent in recent years, making it even more difficult for rice farmers to secure the irrigation water they need.

What is right E-A-T of fertilizer application? Right E-A-T refers to the correct nutrient Element,Amount, and Timing of fertilizer application. It is theessence of PalayCheck’s Key Check 5, which is about nu-trient management, and is embedded in the integratednutrient management framework (Figure 1). Key Check5 targets sufficient nutrients during the tillering, earlypanicle initiation (EPI), and flowering stages. For far-mers to know the right element and amount of fertilizerto apply, Key […]

Over time, it is known that frequency of different climate change impacts like drought will continue to increase (IPCC, 2012; Cai et al., 2018; Gabriel et al., 2021). Drought causes major damage in agriculture. In rice cultivation, certain farmers had been reported ending up with zero yield (Pandey, Bhandari, Ding, et al., 2007)

What is varmix? Varietal Mixture (VarMix) is a mixture of seeds of selected varieties with closely similar agronomic traits but with genetic dissimilarities. Agronomic traits pertain to maturity, height, and grain size, and shape, while genetic dissimilarities refer to the distinct genetic makeup of a rice variety. These varieties have diverse functions to lessen the effects of both biotic (e.g. pest and diseases) and abiotic (e.g. water) stresses (Tooker & […]

There is a need to devise strategies to ensure that farmers suffering from information and communications technology (ICT) anxiety may be able to optimize the benefits of ICTs. ICT anxiety is the feeling of discomfort when in front of ICTs (e.g. computers). It is common among old people, which typifies the majority of farmers in the Philippines. Results of the 2016-2017 Rice-Based Farm Households Survey note that while ICT access […]

A project in Aurora Province from 2012 to 2014 saw that challenges of climate change and rice production are best addressed together by the community. Farmers participating in the project who agreed to practice synchronous planting were rewarded with less pest damage and more yield. Passing ordinances incentivizing collective action in employing yield-enhancing practices like synchronous rice planting is in the right direction if the aim is to increase yield […]

Farmers who depend on pumps for irrigation water suffer from the increased fuel prices. Their fuel consumption accounts for some 30% of their total production cost. TRAIN increases the production cost of pump-dependent farmers by 50 centavos for every kilogram of palay produced, which diminishes their income by 10%. Mechanization does not significantly increase farm fuel cost. To cushion the ill effects of TRAIN on rice farming, pump-dependent farmers have […]

Rice prices are expected to drop when trade protection shall have finally been relaxed in compliance with our international trade agreements. To remain in the market, farmers have to strategize on how to compete in terms of quality and price of their products. This policy brief tackles Hybrid Rice as one of the ways to help farmers survive in a market with tight competition, especially with cheaper imported rice. It […]