“It starts at the pump, but ends in the soil.” For Thelma T. Alabon, 63, of San Mariano, Isabela, this is the reality of rice farming. When fuel prices go up, fertilizer prices follow, and for farmers like her, that’s a direct hit to the pocket. But Alabon did not see rising costs affect her harvests. She used a mix of common sense and hard work to turn things around, […]

Officials from Ospital ng Makati and the Quezon City government signaled support for the Be RICEponsible Campaign, adding institutional voices to calls for less rice waste, healthier food choices, and stronger support for Filipino farmers by purchasing their products. At the recent separate campaign activities in Ospital ng Makati’s nutrition month celebration and the Quezon City local government’s “Look Good, Feel Good” activity, medical personnel, patients, employees, and LGU staff […]

Simple habits at home, from cooking only enough rice to turning leftovers into new meals, topped a public video challenge on reducing rice wastage as the country continues to lose rice enough to feed millions of families each year.  The “Iwas Rice Aksaya Video Challenge” under the Be RICEponsible Campaign of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) featured winning videos that highlighted practical household and dining habits to reduce rice […]

More than 4,000 rice samples from the Philippines have been stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway to protect the country’s rice genetic diversity from climate and disaster risks.  The deposit includes 4,417 rice seed samples developed and conserved by the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice), marking the first time in four decades that the Philippine rice seed duplicates have been stored outside its borders. Often […]

Farmers and seed growers are now guaranteed to receive genetically pure and true-to-type inbred rice seeds as a result of the DNA-profiling technology of the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). A key project under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed Program, the Genetic Resources Division of PhilRice has now successfully profiled the DNA of  214 varieties to be distributed nationwide. This is part of the government’s effort to help […]

In response to ongoing agricultural challenges, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) emphasized the importance of scaling research for development (R4D) innovations during its 36th Ugnay Palay National Rice Research and Development Conference, Dec. 3-5.  The event, themed “Advancing Rice R4DE para sa Masaganang Bagong Pilipinas (Advancing Rice R4DE for a Prosperous New Philippines),” featured a panel discussion on “Scaling R4D Innovations.”  Dr. Karen Eloisa T. Barroga, PhilRice deputy executive […]