Written by the Web Team   Empowering the farmers and increasing their income amidst threats of climate change is possible through community shared agriculture (CSA) or bringing together the farmers and consumers. CSA, a concept being advocated in the country by the Good Food Community (GFC), assures smallholder farmers of a stable demand while giving the urban dwellers, especially in Metro Manila, easy access to “the healthiest, best-tasting harvest.” Charlene […]

Written by the Web Team   Local executives in the country are prioritizing measures that will reduce rice wastage as commitment in sustaining the National Year of Rice 2013, which will be launched this year as the Be RICEponsible campaign. During last year’s Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines meeting, around 130 towns and cities pledged to support policies that would  promote responsible rice consumption for the country to be […]

Written by the Web Team Artsy farmers . Farmers can earn additional income from their handpicked golden apple snails or golden kuhol, major pests in rice production that could reduce yield by up to 40 percent. Dried shells from handpicked snails can be marketed as wall or table décor, key chain, or candle holder. Cherry Ann Dumahin, a researcher in Philippine Rice Research Institute based in Isabela, said that a […]

Written by the Web Team   Police powers and legal remedies are not the only ways to  stop rice smuggling as Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the country’s lead in rice science and development, proposes a long-term solution. PhilRice economists, Dr. Flordeliza Bordey and Aileen Litonjua, said that eliminating the opportunity to smuggle can reduce, if not stop rice smuggling. They said that the prospect of raking-in high profits owing […]

Written by the Web Team   The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) fast tracks the adaptation of farming technologies with its seven branches across the country implementing a more developmental approach. During the institute`s 59th Board of Trustees meeting last month, the highest policy-making body agreed that the branch stations will broaden its development focus to address other farming needs in the community. Until last year, PhilRice stations have specialized […]

Written by the Web Team   Protect rice plants against golden apple snail or golden kuhol few days after they are transplanted, an expert from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) advised the farmers. Golden Kuhol, considered a major pest as it could reduce yield by up to 40 percent, devour young plants from the base; damaging the leaves and leaf sheaths. “When these parts are removed, the transplanted plants […]

Written by the Web Team   Economists based at Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) found in their studies that low investment in research and development (R&D) slows down agricultural productivity. In a volume of the 12-monograph series in Productivity Growth in Philippine Agriculture authored by Flordeliza Bordey and Sergio Francisco of PhilRice Socioeconomics Division, they stated that the country’s ability to feed an increasing population or total factor productivity is […]

Written by the Web Team   An official of the Department of Agriculture had commended the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in the implementation of the National Year of Rice (NYR2013), which had reached about 51.5M Filipinos. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, undersecretary for special concerns, said NYR2013 has been “successful in raising awareness not only on the department’s initiatives to increase rice productivity and farmers` income but in uniting all sectors for […]

Experts at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) warned farmers to reduce insecticide use in controlling rice black bugs, which reportedly attacked some rice fields in Central Luzon. Entomologists Gertrudo Arida and Dr. Hoai Xuan Truong stated in the PhilRice-published bulletin titled, Management of the Rice black bug, that insecticides should be used to a minimum so as not to kill the natural enemies of rice black bugs. Enemies of […]

Written by the Web Team   Sen. Loren Legarda asserted the need for adaptation programs on rice amidst threats on low food production caused by climate change. “If we do not invest on climate change adaptation programs now, rice yield in the Philippines can decline by 75 percent in 2100, as shown by a 2009 study of the Asian Development Bank,” Legarda said during the opening of the Rice, Biodiversity […]