For a technology to make a meaningful impact – transforming lives and communities – it must reach a multitude of users. This entails extensive resources. But with consolidated efforts and well-thought out strategies, technologies can reach more even with less resources. This issue of our magazine unveils stories of technology scaling that are expected to make or have already made an impact on farmers and their communities.

The Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) is set to distribute 1.8 million (M) bags of certified seeds to more than 740,000 farmers this 2022 wet season through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed Program.

I am Monica L. Cab-ad, 58, a rice and vegetable farmer for life. Even as a child, I knew that I would stay in this kind of work. It was my family’s identity. For years now, I had been managing a 1,500m2 land that can be reached through a 30-min walk from our home in Sitio Tumpic, Labueg, Kapangan, Benguet. It is owned by my cousin but we agreed that […]

Popular and newly released inbred and hybrid rice varieties recommended for Regions IV-A and IV-B were showcased during the technology demonstration on March 11 and 14 in Los Baños and Bay, Laguna. Eighty-six farmers from the Pinagisang Damdamin ng mga Magsasaka ng Mabacan River Irrigators Association (PIDaMaRIS), Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Maahas (SAMA-SAMA), and Samahan ng mga Magpapalay ng Bayog attended the Lakbay Palay or field walks along with municipal […]

MORE RICE TECHNOLOGY KNOWLEDGE SHARERS. More sharers of knowledge are now ready to assist rice farmers in rice pest and nutrient management. Through a five-day online course, DA-PhilRice trained 24 researchers and field staff from Corteva Agriscience Philippines, Inc., a private agricultural and seed company based in Tarlac City, on pest identification and management, including the recommended ICT-based tools and technologies for nutrient management based on the PalayCheck System for […]

A short drive from the highway along San Antonio Weste in Lupao, Nueva Ecija is a field teeming with vegetables ready for harvest. Beside it is another field from which rice was freshly harvested. One would not think that these were barren seven months ago. Aila G. Grospe, farm owner, recalls that the 1.3-ha farm has been abandoned for 15 years since her father passed away. The sudden twist of […]

COLLABORATION FOR BETTER SERVICE. DA-PhilRice Batac will assist the local government units of Piddig, Ilocos Norte and Tagudin, Ilocos Sur in capacity enhancement and training farmers on rice production based on the PalayCheck system. The station will also introduce Palayamanan – a diversified and integrated rice-based farming system, and Rice Business Innovation Systems (RiceBis) as interventions to the programs of the LGUs. The branch station will also tap the help […]

An intensive five-day training capacitated 28 farmer leaders and agricultural technologists from Tagudin, Ilocos Sur in applying integrated pest and nutrient management principles of the PalayCheck System for Irrigated Lowland Rice on Jan. 10-14. The training, under the RCEF- Rice Extension Services Program, helped improve the farmers’ knowledge and skills in accurate pest identification, disease diagnosis, farm management, and fertilizer application. The trainees also learned the use of ICT-based tools […]

More farmers and extension intermediaries are improving their rice farming knowledge and skills through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund-Rice Extension Services Program (RCEF-RESP). Dr. Karen Eloisa T. Barroga, DA-PhilRice deputy executive director for development and RCEF-RESP vice-chairperson, reported reaching some 8M stakeholders in 2021 through PhilRice’s training, communication support services, as well as knowledge sharing and learning activities. This was presented during the recent DA-PhilRice RCEF Seeds and Extension annual […]