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 […]

DA-PhilRice pursued 66 research for development (R4D) projects in 2021 by sustaining essential operations despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.  Executive Director John C. de Leon asserted strong linkages and close coordination with partners, the use of online communication platforms, and alternative measures and work arrangements helped the institute achieve most of its goals.  Eight new DA-PhilRice-bred inbred varieties were approved for commercial release: 3 for irrigated […]

PhilRice Tapuy Rice Wine   PhilRice Tapuy Rice Wine, a pure wine that captures the unique taste of naturally-fermented glutinous rice. It is a clear, full-bodied wine with luxurious alcoholic flavor, moderate sweetness and lingering finish. 7 reasons why you should stock up on the PhilRice Tapuy Rice Wine: PhilRice Tapuy is the healthiest alcoholic drink in the market, being the only wine that does not contain sulphites or chemical […]

Batac and Isabela stations celebrated their 23rd and 30th anniversaries, respectively, early this year.  The Batac station was established on February 9,1999. It serves as the center for dryland agriculture R&D focusing on the improvement of rice-based cropping systems in semi-arid areas and development of on-farm water conservation and storage techniques. The National Tobacco Administration played a major role in its creation.  Based in San Mateo, the Isabela station officially […]

Agusan farmers now engaged in agro enterprise development Kitcharao and Magallanes in Agusan del Norte are starting to progress as farm communities operating nine agro enterprises on milled rice lending, internal savings lending, and bulk purchasing inputs.  The community improvement, which spurred from the structured business-  centric model of RiceBIS Agusan, is managed by the trained 400 farmers who follow the business model bank concept pilot-tested by the Esperanza RiceBIS […]

Over time, it is known that frequency of different climate change impacts like drought will continue to increase (IPCC, 2012; Cai et al., 2018; Gabriel et al., 2021). Drought causes major damage in agriculture. In rice cultivation, certain farmers had been reported ending up with zero yield (Pandey, Bhandari, Ding, et al., 2007)

More than a thousand farmers, composed of 600 vegetable farmers, 240 rice-based farmers, and at least 500 households from Lupao, Nueva Ecija were introduced to vegetable production systems under the PAG-AHON Phase II Project.  Also known as the “Sa Palay at Gulay, may Ani, Hanapbuhay, Oportunidad, at Nutrisyon,” which ran from June to Dec. 31, 2021, the municipality-wide vegetable production initiative included crop diversification, the establishment of community food hubs, […]

Series of activities were conducted in preparation for the crafting of the new DA-PhilRice strategic plan to be spearheaded by the institute’s management committee or ManCom.  The workshop titled, “Click Refresh; A Conversation for Leaders of DA-PhilRice,” was held on Dec. 6 – 7, which was facilitated by Mark G. Flores, a human resource and organizational development practitioner. CoSpark PhilRice: A Strategic Planning webinar was also conducted on Dec. 7.  […]