Imagine living in a place hundred miles away from where you grew up— adjusting yourself to fit in to other people’s culture, compromising your lifestyle to cope with their daily lives, trying out food and activities you have never done before, and allowing yourself to feel homesickness and loneliness at times; all entirely for the benefit of another country. What will make a person do that? For Dr. Truong Hoai […]

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) grants bronze award to the Philippine Rice Research Institute Human Resource and Management Office (HRMO) recognizing its excellence in human resource management systems, practices, and competencies of government agencies. The award, which was under the Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management (PRIME-HRM), evaluated government agencies in terms of four core areas—recruitment, selection, and placement; learning and development; performance management; and rewards […]

Farmers, with more than 50 years of farming experience in Cotabato, were trained on current rice production technologies in Knowledge Sharing and Learning activities initiated by PhilRice Midsayap in June. The station also trained new graduates from Cotabato City State Polytechnic College, Southern Christian College, and University of Southern Mindanao; agricultural extension workers; and local officials on PalayCheck, Minus-One Element Technique, and Palayamanan Plus. About 150 participants were engaged in […]

Rice hull, a discarded agricultural by-product, was used to produce the Philippine flag recently displayed as a centerpiece in a mall in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.  Exhibited by PhilRice’s Future Rice Program, it aimed to encourage the public not to waste a single grain of rice and to recognize farmers’ hardwork. Rice Science Museum also soft-launched early in June a series of artworks from rice hull to raise awareness on […]

“Thesising” millennial? Researching for grad school or work? Or are you simply a reading junkie? Try visiting the PhilRice library and you might be surprised on how useful and interesting are its acquisitions and services. Remote and physical access Non-PhilRice staff who wishes to explore the library contents can first go to its OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) to scan for books and use xCardBox, an online cataloguing system, for […]

To increase the accessibility of high-quality seeds in Mindanao, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) establishing a 50ha seed production area, June 24.  “Farmers’ competitiveness starts with high-quality inbred seeds. We have to double our efforts in producing high-quality seeds as demand for foundation, registered, and certified seeds will increase with the implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program […]

While pharmaceutical drugs are taken in when common illnesses strike, indigenous knowledge in three provinces comprised traditional rice varieties (TRV) as home remedies. In the “Ethnoguided Survey and Collection of Philippine Medicinal Traditional Rice Varieties,” 18 rice varieties were identified as medicinal in Palawan, North Cotabato, and Zamboanga del Norte. Across three sites, TRVs are used to treat fever, cough, measles, stomach ache, and diarrhea. Floper Gershwin Manuel, research lead, […]

Rice farmers in Buenavista, Quezon had experienced more harvest with public hybrid Mestiso 20 (M20), some of them even calling it “miracle seed.” “In my 16 years of farming, this is my first time to harvest this big! Before, I’m happy with 120 cavans. But when I switched to planting hybrid seeds like M20, amazingly, I harvested 178 cavans per hectare this season,” farmer Michael Delos Santos said. With the […]

Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija – Farmers here have started to engage in special rice agripreneurship addressing the demand of province’s rice cake vendors and in Tarlac. In a ceremonial activity in Brgy. Mayamot, farmer-members of PhilRice’s Rice Business Innovations System (RiceBIS) Community Program planted special rice in a demo farm managed by the Ugat-Uhay Farmers Association (UUFA), June 21. The varieties included NSIC Rc 15 (Malagkit 2), 21 (Malagkit 5), and […]