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 […]