Hybrid rice farmers and seed growers can now quickly assess seed purity with the addition of a new trait in Mestiso 20 (M20), a public hybrid rice variety. To assess seed purity as early as seedling stage, PhilRice researchers have introduced purple coloration on the leaf sheaths of the male parents of M20 while keeping the other traits intact. As hybrids are generated through outcrossing of two different rice lines, […]

Prospects of growing hybrid rice is shown to the farmers southwest of Manila in a 35.8-ha demonstration farm at Brgy. Malad, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. Launched during the 9th National Rice Technology Forum (NRTF), Aug. 8, the demo farm features  Mestiso 20 (M20), one of the 25 hybrid rice varieties, and three inbred varieties –NSIC Rc  216, Rc 506, and Rc 222. Recher Ondap, president of the Rice Board, said through […]

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 […]