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 […]

It was a different kind of Valentine`s Day for PhilRice-Midsayap researcher Gina Balleras. While others received flowers and chocolates, she, on the other hand, bagged six awards from an international conference. On February 14, Balleras received the Outstanding Research Leader Award for 2014 during the International Conference on Climate Change, Ecology and Conservation (ICCCEC) organized by the International Association of Multidisciplinary Research (IAMURE) in Macau, China. Balleras` paper titled, Aboveground […]

Written by Chona Mae S Narvadez   The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has promoted the long-grain, white Mestizo rice in the past. The present, however, belongs to the fast becoming popular brown rice, available at PhilRice as Beautiful Brown rice. Consumers are guaranteed of consistent product quality as PhilRice uses only select varieties for its Beautiful Brown rice product. These varieties are backed by sensory tests and proven by […]

Written by Chona Mae S Narvadez   From rice that you can eat to rice that you can`t eat.  Find the latest rice and its related products on FB and like www.facebook.com/philriceproducts as source of information on what’s available at PhilRice stores. There is something for everyone on the page. Seed growers are updated on the available seeds, while researchers, students, and farm managers are informed on the latest book […]

Written by Chona S Narvadez   Rice is a great companion when eating morning, noon, and night. But rice, fermented into Tapuy wine, is an even fun friend when you wish to celebrate, relax, and unwind. PhilRice Tapuy satisfies your thirst With 14% alcohol, Tapuy rice wine gives just the right level of inebriation, with no hangovers and allergies the morning after. Traditionally used by our forefathers for important occasions […]

Written by Myriam G Layaoen   In Abra’s sloping upland areas, when it rains, it pours. This applies not only for water, but also for the topsoil where nutrients to nurture the plants thrive. But during dry seasons, the water becomes scarce, the soil, non-arable. This leaves upland rice farmers empty-handed for a period. As ironic as it is, the Philippines regularly hosts typhoons yet experiences water deficiency for crop […]