Written by the Web Team
The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the country’s lead agency in rice science and development, has launched pages on Facebook and Twitter to promote dialogue among rice stakeholders and serve as journalists’ reporting tool.
The “Rice Matters” page is “intended to be a platform where progressive farmers, extension workers, journalists, and the general public could immediately access, post, and comment on rice-related information and issues,” said Karen Eloisa T. Barroga, PhilRice’s development communication division head.
The stakeholders’ interactions, she said, will be useful in improving the Institute’s research and development activities and the services it delivers to the rice farmers.
Barroga said the Facebook page will contain posts on PhilRice-generated information, technologies, and its advocacies while the Twitter page will primarily help the media to find sources on rice-related topics and interact with rice specialists.
On its less than a month of going up, posts at Facebook page have registered more than 24,000 hits while rice matters at Twitter listed 50 followers. Rice Matters fans also reside in other countries such as Australia, USA, and Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, the Institute also maintains its official blog site that publishes articles complementing posts and tweets.
Johnny F. Goluyugo, reader of the blog site commented,” This is an excellent site with the growing interest on rice…. The site will also [help] bolster the Philippines’ Rice Self-Sufficiency Program. Congratulations!”
Like, follow, and read Rice Matters at http://www.facebook.com/rice.matters, http://twitter.com/#!/rice_matters, and http://ricematters.wordpress.com, which are being maintained by the Institute’s Development Communication Division.
