The power of printed words. Rodel Guevarra, a farmer-leader from Pagsanjan, Laguna, shared that the leaflet, “Pesteng Insekto at Sakit,” corrected his misconceptions on common pests and diseases. “I used to believe that rice seeds from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) are carriers of the “tungro” disease so I was hesitant to use them.  However, through the leaflet, I am taught that I should be wary of green leafhoppers […]

Beyond the classroom. Cheryl Bundalian, a young instructor at Southern Luzon State University (SLSU), can now better educate her students in agriculture with the completion of her training under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. According to Bundalian, she had been teaching her students the Minus-One Element Technique (MOET), a nutrient diagnostic tool, but was only able to try the technology during the training. She also used the ICT-based applications such […]

Major challenges, thematic areas, agenda and program thrusts, implementing/scaling partners, outcomes and impacts were identified through workshop groups composed of around 100 staff members from branch stations, divisions, offices, and units during the July 20-22 StratPlan activity.

More choices for richer yield. Ilukano farmers can now check and compare the performance of hybrid varieties that they can consider come next planting season in the 120-ha demonstration farm in Brgy. Cabaruan, Bacarra, Ilocos Norte. Hybrid rice is a product of two different cross-pollinated rice plants with superior qualities, which yields up to 15% higher than the inbred varieties. DA-PhilRice Batac introduced the public hybrids Mestizo 1 (M1) and […]

A crop health training aimed at improving the Negros team’s pest monitoring and data collection process was conducted by the CES-based Pest Risk Identification and Management (PRIME) team on June 29. The PRIME project sets up monitoring fields where collected data are sent to a Web App that gives out alerts in case of increased pest incidences. Negros station has 30 crop health monitoring fields at present.

In celebration of the National Kidney Month, more than 100 personnel of DA-PhilRice registered to help patients of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) during the 2022 Blood Donation Drive, which was led by the Community Relations Office, on June 17 at the Crop Biotech Center Multipurpose Hall. Most of them where first-time blood donors.

NEW AGENTS OF KNOWLEDGE. Twenty-nine agricultural extension workers (AEWs) across CALABARZON are now geared up to teach farmers on pest and nutrient management technologies. The AEWs were recently trained on pest and nutrient management under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – Rice Extension Services Program. Adjoy Rubio from Jomalig, Quezon (Back row, 4th from L) said that she will share with farmers the modern technologies they can adopt. She […]

Thirty farmers from Laguna and Quezon recently graduated from the short course training on pest and nutrient management under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – Rice Extension Services Program. Ronald Pandalag (1st row, 6th from R), a computer science graduate, received the Top Performer Award for his excellent performance during the 5-day training. The 25-year-old farmer was impressed by the ICT-based apps such as Binhing Palay introduced during the […]

READY TO SHARE. Following their recent graduation from the Training of Trainers on the production of high-quality inbred rice and seeds and farm mechanization, 30 agricultural extension workers and farm school owners say they are now ready to conduct Farmer Field School in Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Administrative Region. Conducted by DA-PhilRice Isabela under RCEF, the 10-day training discussed concepts and principles of the PalayCheck System, an integrated crop management […]

MOTIVATED FOR SUCCESS. In preparation for the crafting of the 2023-2028 strategic plan, Pastor Rito “Bong” Saquing, a motivational speaker, shared important principles for a high performing team. Saquing emphasized the principles of Modeling, Open communication, Time, Intimacy, Vision, Affirmation, Train and Teach, and Entrust (to God) or MOTIVATE as interdependent tenets in the achievement of the goals of an organization. Conducted online and onsite, 330 staff from all DA-PhilRice […]