Dr. William Dollente Dar, acting secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), bares “new thinking” as strategy to achieve four-fold agriculture growth and double farmers’ income. In his acceptance speech early this week, Dar, who have served as the DA secretary from 1998 to 1999, noted that Philippine agriculture, for the past decade, only grew 1.1% annually, while population has been increasing at 1.8% yearly. “We are faced with the […]

Experts from the plant industry are intensifying quarantine and pest-risk analysis (PRA) procedures to protect consumers and farmers from the entry of unsafe imported rice and palay. “PRA is a very important part of the pre-border quarantine to identify risks associated from commodities imported to our country like palay. This is to avoid the threats of pests and seed-borne diseases from other countries,” said Gerald Glen F. Panganiban, Bureau of […]

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) grants bronze award to the Philippine Rice Research Institute Human Resource and Management Office (HRMO) recognizing its excellence in human resource management systems, practices, and competencies of government agencies. The award, which was under the Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management (PRIME-HRM), evaluated government agencies in terms of four core areas—recruitment, selection, and placement; learning and development; performance management; and rewards […]

To increase the accessibility of high-quality seeds in Mindanao, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) establishing a 50ha seed production area, June 24.  “Farmers’ competitiveness starts with high-quality inbred seeds. We have to double our efforts in producing high-quality seeds as demand for foundation, registered, and certified seeds will increase with the implementation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program […]

While pharmaceutical drugs are taken in when common illnesses strike, indigenous knowledge in three provinces comprised traditional rice varieties (TRV) as home remedies. In the “Ethnoguided Survey and Collection of Philippine Medicinal Traditional Rice Varieties,” 18 rice varieties were identified as medicinal in Palawan, North Cotabato, and Zamboanga del Norte. Across three sites, TRVs are used to treat fever, cough, measles, stomach ache, and diarrhea. Floper Gershwin Manuel, research lead, […]

Rice farmers in Buenavista, Quezon had experienced more harvest with public hybrid Mestiso 20 (M20), some of them even calling it “miracle seed.” “In my 16 years of farming, this is my first time to harvest this big! Before, I’m happy with 120 cavans. But when I switched to planting hybrid seeds like M20, amazingly, I harvested 178 cavans per hectare this season,” farmer Michael Delos Santos said. With the […]

Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija – Farmers here have started to engage in special rice agripreneurship addressing the demand of province’s rice cake vendors and in Tarlac. In a ceremonial activity in Brgy. Mayamot, farmer-members of PhilRice’s Rice Business Innovations System (RiceBIS) Community Program planted special rice in a demo farm managed by the Ugat-Uhay Farmers Association (UUFA), June 21. The varieties included NSIC Rc 15 (Malagkit 2), 21 (Malagkit 5), and […]

Farmers always aim for bountiful harvest. To attain this, some farmers overfeed the rice crop with nutrients; a huge mistake they often make. A PhilRice study in Agusan del Norte, where rice fields are supposed to be mineral-rich, showed that deficiency is possible despite the presence of nutrients in the soil.  Thus, farmers should only apply needed fertilizers to avoid complications from other nutrients. Understanding soil properties Considered under the […]

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has started training new brred of rice specialists to help the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) beneficiaries become competitive. Titled Rice Specialists’ Training Course (RSTC), it is set to enhance the technical competence of rice focal persons from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Regional Centers and DA-Regional Field Offices, June 24-Aug. 17.Twenty-nine participants completed part 1 of the training course that focused on mind-setting […]

PhilRice Batac promotes the use of multi-purpose seeder through a technology generation and verification trial in Pidigan, Abra. Multi-purpose seeder reduces  crop establishment cost and seeding rate as its performance is more accurate than manual broadcasting. University of the Philippines-Los Baños, local government unit of Pidigan, and Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Abra tie up for this project.