The majority of the production cost incurred by Filipino farmers goes to labor, making it one of the crucial factors that retard their competitiveness. For 2013-2014, our average hired labor cost was at P3.76/kg of paddy rice. In the book, Competitiveness of Philippine Rice in Asia, this amount roughly covers 30% of the P12.41 average palay production cost/kg. So much work begs to be done to pull down the labor […]

Farmers from different provinces in the country differ in terms of the quantities of inputs used, technologies adopted, and management skills employed. This results in the varying yield and production cost among farmers. To address this, economists from the Socioeconomics Division of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) shared ways on how to narrow these gaps to help farmers increase their productivity and income based on the findings from 33 […]

The restlessly rising fuel prices will hit the few farmers who are dependent on pumps for irrigation. They will breathe deeply, exhale slowly, and scratch their heads. They will probably forget the name of their patron saints for a while. The alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology could help them lighten this burden. Saving on water AWD is a water-saving technology that rice farmers could adopt to reduce their use […]

Under the unforgiving heat of the lenten sun, the farmer is drenched in his sticky perspiration as he goes back and forth to the field to check if his rice crop is being dehydrated. However, because he can’t afford to lose even a cavan of his potential harvest, he’ll irrigate his field and sweat it out even if it takes more than a thousand steps to reach his field. According […]

The Philippine Rice Research Institute advances its research and development operations in Agusan and Batac through recently completed new facilities. Abner T. Montecalvo, PhilRice Deputy Executive Director for Administrative Services and Finance, said the facilities are expected to enhance the station’s capacity in producing high quality seeds for the farmers and seed growers. “The new facilities will strengthen research functions of the branch stations, and ultimately address rice production concerns […]

“Yung lumilipad.” This is the typical response of the farmers to the question on the most memorable part of the recent wet season Lakbay Palay, a bi-annual field day organized by PhilRice for farmers to learn about the latest rice farming technologies. The farmers pertain to the drone sprayer demonstration conducted as part of exploring the technology for rice R&D. Along with this fascination, farmers’ curiosity was also replete of […]

Rice has always been a major food staple in the Philippines. Both producers and consumers consider a slight change in rice price as their major concern. In light of the emerging issues in rice price, agriculture workers from different regions in the country gathered together in a seminar-workshop to understand the rice value chain, and craft localized agriculture interventions and strategies for their respective regions. Participants crafted strategies that will […]

Writer. Information technology practitioner. Systems developer. Administrator. Smart farm manager. Not five people but one. For over 30 years, Pagasa Awardee Roger F. Barroga has calibrated himself across disciplines. Sir Roger, as he is called at work, is one of PhilRice’s pioneer staff having joined the Institute while its main operations were still in Los Baños, Laguna. A call for service Hailing from Luna, Apayao, Sir Roger’s parents were in […]

Working on the most workable pest management. Pest Risk Identification and Management (PRIME) team has convened at the Philippine Rice Research Institute to discuss strategies to maximize and share data for project partners. Other efforts to enhance the project’s implementation were also discussed during the meeting. PRIME aims to contribute to the reduction of yield losses due to pests through better management and targeting of risk areas thereby making rice […]