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 […]

Owing to production challenges, such as unstable prices and climate-related stresses, many farmers might have been contemplating on leaving rice farming. But for Leo Franco L. Ebardo of Bayugan City and Terencio R. Oquendo, Jr. of Esperanza, both in Agusan del Sur, their choice is to join this bumpy ride of producing more rice. Truth to tell, they have joined the Esperanza Seed Growers-Farmers’ Association (ESEGFA), which was born in […]

Most Filipino rice farmers are normally engaged in a single income source to support their family needs. Growing rice and selling it as fresh palay to traders is habitual for them in getting immediate cash returns. For Johnny C. Escote, 54, from Central Glad, Midsayap, North Cotabato, it’s not yet too late to try rice business, in fact, it’s the best time to initiate one knowing that buying price of […]

Members of the Marasat Grande and Dagupan RiceBIS Association (MarDag) in San Mateo, Isabela were willing to be together, let alone committed to doing things as a group. The rice business lane PhilRice Isabela started to promote RiceBIS in 2017 in San Mateo, inviting 33 barangay captains to serve as farmer-cooperators. In the end, only Jose V. Guillermo from Brgy. Marasat Grande and Diosdado S. Sagaysay from Brgy. Dagupan qualified […]

For people in the city area, “see you at SM” means “meeting at a shopping mall”. Interestingly, to the facilitators and farmer-cooperators of the Rice Business Innovations System (RiceBIS) Community Program at Brgys. Macarse and Mayamot, Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija, “SM” stands for “Silong ng Mangga”. Such was the expression during the program’s early years of implementation when the villages in the area still had not much – no facilities nor […]