Food security has always been high in the agenda of our country. Now that we are 100 million and counting, can we secure enough food for all of us? Is there enough agricultural labor force to suffice the need? It is clear with the Commission on Higher Education that enrolment in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and veterinary medicine had declined from 85,266 in 1999 to only 49,823 in 2010. “Most students […]

Ana Sibayan uses a pen and some sheets of paper to prepare for her presentation. She is about to face more than 300 scientists, extension workers, policy makers, academicians, among other participants in a prestigious international conference on agriculture and rural development. Her topic – attracting the youth to engage in agriculture. At 25, Ana is one of the youngest farmer-leaders in the country. In her hometown Victoria in Mindoro […]

Written by Dr Emil Q Javier Why not? There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why . . . I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? . . . Robert Kennedy. More liberal trading among nations across all products and services will bring more economic benefits in the aggregate. But as always more benefits will accrue to some; others will […]

Written by Dr Emil Q Javier   “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why…I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?…Robert Kennedy (A reader, Ms. Lilybeth Eleccion called attention to the attribution of the “Why Not!” quote to Robert Kennedy. The original quote was really made by the Irish playwright, essayist and 1925 Nobel Prize winner for literature, George Bernard […]

Written by Eufemio T Rasco Jr   In the few instances that the Philippines has achieved rice sufficiency in recent years, sufficiency was achieved for only one or two years, after which a long period of deficit follows. The issue, therefore, is not whether sufficiency can be achieved but if it can be sustained. To address the issue of sustainability, one needs to look at the pattern of supply and […]

Written by Charisma Love B Gado   When El Niño hit Isabela in 2009, Julie Gambalan of Aga, Delfin Albano, Isabela, gained nothing despite of sleepless nights fighting for her rice crop. “I had sleepless nights. The expenses were too much and were adding up to the weekly allowance for my college student then in Manila,” she said. For her rice plants to survive, she sold their cattle for P25,000 […]

Written by Mervalyn Oplas-Tomas   He saw the need for change. And he had to start it. Bernardino Nuñez, National Gawad Saka 2012 awardee, thought that he will forever be magsasaka (farmer) not a magsasako (farm entrepreneur). Now, his farm is a proof that farmers can harvest enough or even more than enough from a hectare. The beginning Nuñez admitted that he did not have any interest in farming although […]

Written by Charisma Love B Gado   From information to action. The actions conveyed during the National Year of Rice (NYR) 2013, a campaign that aimed to help achieve rice self-sufficiency, are sustained this year through the Be RICEponsible campaign launched in March. As an offshoot of NYR 2013, the Be RICEponsible campaign aims to promote the RICEponsibility of the Filipinos to the country and to their bodies for enough […]

Written by Charisma Love B Gado   A long time ago in an Asian folklore, when a brave youth in Java, Indonesia stole the rice plants from the heavens, the goddess Dewi Sri instructed him to harvest the plants carefully. Unfortunately, the words of the goddess are long forgotten as data from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization shows a 15 percent postproduction loss for rice. The Agricultural […]

Written by Myriam G Layaoen   Now that the world`s energy is rather weakening than multiplying in supply, the fuel-dependent rice farming is compromised. Maximizing what’s available may sound rational but converting farm wastes into useful energy is even better. What more if you could produce two kinds from a single source? Inspired by this conviction, PhilRice scientist and engineer, Ricardo Orge and team explored ways to recover the heat […]