About 1,000 farmers learned agricultural entrepreneurship during the dry season Lakbay Palay hosted by PhilRice, March 30-31. With the theme Ang magsasakang madiskarte, negosyante, the event aims to prepare farmers to be ‘agripreneurs’ and taught them the various rice-based production systems in which they could earn additional income. The Institute invited Leticia Basubas, owner of MSC Food Products to inspire farmers to venture in agricultural entrepreneurship and teach them basic […]

With the women actively involved in majority of agricultural work, PhilRice is showcasing farm equipment for women in an exhibit.

An ICT-based application that can analyze crop needs from planting to post-harvest while mitigating the effects of climate change was the grand winner in the 3rd AgriHackathon, an application development competition held at PhilRice, March 24-25. Called Crop++, the application was developed by IT students from Central Luzon State University. The application can monitor the current temperature and humidity of a farm area through a temperature sensor. It can also […]

Science City of Munoz – After featuring pop culture and political icons, PhilRice launched a new design of its rice paddy art baring two generations of Ang Probinsyano stars (Coco Martin and Fernando Poe Jr.), March 24. The rice paddy art is a project under the PhilRice FutureRice Program. Using the 3D anamorphosis principle (an art technique used for a distorted artwork that will only appear normal when viewed from […]

A prestigious award-giving body recognized PhilRice for its communication initiatives and writers during the 2016 Binhi Awards held at the Makati Diamond Residences, March 22. The Binhi Awards is an annual prestigious competition organized by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists Inc. (PAJ) in cooperation with the San Miguel Corporation to recognize the efforts of the country’s agriculture and environment journalists. Sonny P. Pasiona, a writer of the PhilRice Development Communication Division, […]

The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) conducted a national retooling workshop on field protocols and operations for the regional implementers of the Department of Agriculture (DA), February 21-24. “We are using state of the art tools (smart phone, internet, satellite, cloud computing, crop model) in our information system. To optimize the benefits of these tools and to cope with the fast pace of technology development for efficiency, reliability, and easiness, […]

PhilRice in partnership with the Central Luzon State University (CLSU), launched the book Mushroom Feast: A Collection of Filipino Mushroom Recipes, in Cabanatuan City, February 22. The book aims topromote mushroom production as an important component of Palayamanan Plus, an integrated, intensified, and diversified rice and rice-based farming system. Mushroom production serves as an additional source of income for farmers through the development of high-quality food and production of feed supplement […]

Ten Muslim farmers from Butig, Lanao del Sur participated in a three-day training program titled Technology updating on hybrid rice production at PhilRice, February 28-March 2. The hybrid rice varieties, mechanical transplanter, integrated pest management, and best farming practices were introduced to the farmer-participants. They also visited the FutureRice farm and seed processing facility of the Institute. “PhilRice experts taught us about the high-yielding varieties such as hybrid rice and the […]

With the changing climate and environment, rice researchers have explored a more efficient method called precision breeding to improve the traits of existing rice varieties. In a recent seminar conducted at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Dr. Rosalyn B. Angeles-Shim, assistant professor from Nagoya University in Japan, said that scientists practice precision breeding through marker-assisted selection to increase yield of rice and enhance its tolerance to biotic and abiotic […]

The National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) has recently approved 25 new varieties developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Philippine-Sino Center for Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT), Syngenta, and LongPing Philippines. Dr. Oliver Manangkil, NSIC coordinator and head of the Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Division of PhilRice, said in this batch of newly NSIC-approved varieties, the IRRI-bred […]