In traditional farming, the carabao has to walk 60-80 km to plow a hectare. The patient beast faithfully does this for the rice to grow healthy as a well-prepared land helps in driving away pests and diseases. The interaction between the rice and the carabao is quite knitted that when in human forms, they could have easily poke each other – a playful gesture between friends. So it’s not a […]

Work may sometimes burn us up; leaving ashes of stress and problems in personal lives. So, let’s show our self some love by taking care of our health while being productive at work! Exercise Do you sit for more than 7 hours a day finishing tasks and go home tired with work still undone? Having this routine may cause detrimental effects on the mind and body. Be physically active! Based […]

After roughly a decade of fine-tuning and development, Rice Crop Manager (RCM) can also join the so-called #10yearchallenge, a trend flooding the social media when 2019 commenced. RCM facilitates better rice management practices through mobile or web app farm data collection for site-specific management recommendations.  Being the first rice farming mobile app, recalling its transformations and milestones in the last 10 years serves as a quick stocktaking of what have […]

Boy: Taga-Dev ka ba? (Are you from the development sector?) Girl: Bakit? (Why?) Boy: Nadebelop na kasi ako sa iyo. (‘Cause I’ve fallen for you.) Rizal G. Corales of the research sector may have this as his favorite punchline for Dr. Aurora M. Corales of the development group; but more than his humor, his loving ways contributed to their enduring story as a PhilRice couple. The Corales couple are two […]

So much disinformation has been spread about the negative impact of the Rice Tariffication Act on the local rice industry to the point that the buying price of palay has dropped from a high of P22 per kilo last year to P14 and P15 in some parts of the country now. In view of this, I have decided to address some basic questions to put an end to all the […]

Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the country’s lead agency for rice research for development, pushes for the use of high-quality inbred seeds and its associated technologies to help farmers become competitive and survive the influx of cheaper rice from the international market. According to PhilRice experts, competitiveness means increasing farmers’ yield by at least 5 tons per hectare for inbred seeds and reducing their production cost by 30%. Signed on […]

Beginning of smart farming. Ilocano farmers in Batac City, Ilocos Norte are recently taught on producing mushroom as another source of income. A component of Palayamanan Plus or rice-based crop diversification and crop-animal integration, mushroom production  uses rice hull in fruit bag preparation. Thus, burning of rice hull in farming communities are lessened. PhilRice Batac conducted the three-day training.  

Off to Japan. As part of their preparatory course before a training in Japan, 21 young farmers from across the country completed a week-long training on Farm Machinery Operation and Safety with PalayCheck System at PhilRice Central Experiment Station in Nueva Ecija, February 15. The participants, recipients of the Young Filipino Farm Leaders’ Training Program by the Agricultural Exchange Council, are set for an 11-month training starting April in Japan.

Drone in the farms. Experts from FutureRice Farm of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) will monitor rice growth using drone and other modern farming technologies. Promoting precision agriculture, drone was used in direct-seeding and mechanical transplanter for rice establishment. Fertilizers and herbicides will also be applied using the drone spreader and sprayer systems this 2019 dry season. FutureRice Farm’s study on drone and other modern farming technologies is in […]

Sharing is caring. Seventy-four families from indigenous people community near PhilRice Bicol receive packed rice, dry goods, and used clothing. The IPs from barangays Joroan, Misibis, and Mayong in Tiwi, Albay are also currently involved in the project, Phase II: Enhancing the Capabilities of Bicol Agta’s IPs through Palayamanan Approach, which is jointly implemented by PhilRice Bicol and PhilRice Los Baños. The IP communities were hit with flash flood and […]