In a 2017 study by DA-PhilRice, the ability of Filipino farmers to obtain maximum production is only 80.19% despite technological advancements. The study concluded that better education, membership in an organization, securing tenurial status, and participation in training could help increase farmers’ yields. In the following accounts, farmers tell their story of how training programs have changed their farming—for good. JUDY S. ORENSE, 52, BAGO CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL I started […]

While substantial steps to promote gender equality in our country have been taken with the enactment of the Magna Carta of Women in 2009, gender gaps remain in other industries like agriculture. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, 8.31 million men and 2.76 million ladies in 2016 were employed in agriculture. Men were also paid P17.45 higher than women. Yet these data are not enough to reflect the important roles […]

Rice is a prominent staple food comprising 40% of the Filipino diet and a primary source of carbohydrates that provide energy needed by the body. No other food can truly take the place of rice. The Healthier Rice Project under the DA-PhilRice, in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), develops biofortified rice like Golden Rice as a complementary food-based intervention to offer better access to nutritious food. Golden […]

Darkness starts to engulf the remaining light of the day but the rustles have not slowed down a bit inside the Pinagbuklod na Adhika Multipurpose Cooperative (PNAMC) facility in Macarse, Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija. The last sack of palay was poured into the brown rice milling machine. Several women can be seen filling plastic bags labeled “Macarse Brown Rice”. In a transformed food system that is gender-responsive, opportunities are given to […]

Rice farming, particularly in uplands where it is done only once a year, cannot be postponed to a later year for whatever excuse there might be. Upland farmers depend much on their limited rice produce, supplemented with other staples. The community seed banking (CSB), a good practice under the informal seed system leads farmers into producing, saving, and sharing their seeds. They each retain from their harvest a certain amount […]

Face-to-face communication is among the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has helped us remain connected somehow, providing a safe solution to survive the new normal. In rice farming, ICT-based technologies are supplying stakeholders, particularly farmers, science-based information that they can depend on in their decision-making – it’s all in their phones or computers. Even before the pandemic, efforts to harness the power of ICT […]

In the outskirts of Santiago, Gerona, Tarlac, a community is nestled in the middle of an agricultural land. Here, families know each other. After all, they are related by blood. By early afternoon, many of the relatives gather under a massive mango tree where halo-halo is being sold to beat the April heat. It resembles an opening sequence of a local movie – children at play, the huddle of parents […]

Eranio A. Mojica was standing beside a poster by the door of their office as he waited for the employees of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to arrive. He was tapped to be part of an activity that would feature farmers-recipients of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund – Rice Extension Services Program (RCEF-RESP). Mojica, chair of the five-year-old First Damayan Bagsit Irrigators Association in Brgy. Bulawen, Palauig, Zambales, can […]

This harvest season, Rolando C. San Gabriel, retired agriculturist and now a seed grower, achieved a good harvest through continuous learning. “Though I may know about rice farming more than other farmers because of my profession, I still look for opportunities to learn because I believe that as I gain knowledge, I can achieve better results,” the 70-year-old farmer said. San Gabriel harvested 18 cavans of NSIC Rc 508 (57kg […]

Numbers don’t lie. As centerpiece of Philippine agriculture, availability of up-to-date statistics on the performance of the rice industry is of big help for decision-makers and other players to implement the next key programs, research activities, and interventions. Accepting the challenge, DA-PhilRice has launched the Statistical Laboratory and Data Center (StatLab) and the PhilRice Data Analytics Initiative (RiceLytics) to respectively expand its data management and analysis capacity, and to provide […]