Producing enough rice to feed the growing Filipino population remains a daunting challenge. Population increased rapidly from 92 million in 2010 to 109 million in 2022, confounded by rising per capita net rice disposable consumption, from 114 kg/year to 136 kg/year during the same decade. Although milled rice production grew substantially, from 10.3 million metric tons (Mt) to 12.9 million Mt, it was not enough to cater to the increasing […]

Palay farmgate price is a key consideration in a farmer’s decision to plant: a high price pushes them to cultivate rice in larger areas; a low price could make them plant other crops. Consequently, the rise and fall in farmgate price heavily influences changes in wholesale and retail prices of milled rice, compromising the affordability of rice among consumers. With rice eating up the largest share in food expenditures, it […]

Climate change refers to the gradual rise in global temperatures and adjustments in weather patterns. This is primarily caused by greenhouse gases (GHG) released into the atmosphere either by natural forces, such as volcanic eruptions, or human activities, such as fossil fuels burning. GHG are said to envelop the earth’s surface preventing the sun’s heat from escaping, thus leading to global warming (United Nations, n.d.). This means more warmer days, […]

Climate change is a key threat in the agriculture sector, which itself also contributes significantly to worsening climate change impacts. At the global level, the agriculture sector accounts for 27% of all the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (ASEAN CRN, 2023). In the Philippines, the sector is the second largest GHG emitter. Rice cultivation represents the largest source accounting for 52% of the total agriculture emissions (NICCDIES, 2024). Hence, rectifying certain […]

The Philippines is a net importer of inorganic fertilizers. Significant changes in the world market can greatly impact the country’s fertilizer industry. In 2021-2022, the prices of fertilizer raw materials surged and global supply tightened because of the pandemic, China’s export restrictions and the conflict between the two major producers of inorganic fertilizers, Russia and Ukraine (Baffes and Koh, 2022) contributed to these scenarios. Consequently, the domestic inorganic fertilizer prices […]

Manual transplanting is the dominant rice crop establishment method in the Philippines. This partially causes the high labor cost that drives up rice production cost in the country, along with the inflating fertilizer and fuel prices. Consequently, it has become more challenging to make farmers competitive with the cheap imported rice from neighboring countries. This policy brief explores the viability of transitioning from transplanted rice (TPR) to direct-seeded rice (DSR) […]

Managing water resources has become extremely important with respect to major climate woes. In the Philippines, occurrences of El Niño have been more frequent in recent years, making it even more difficult for rice farmers to secure the irrigation water they need.

What is right E-A-T of fertilizer application? Right E-A-T refers to the correct nutrient Element,Amount, and Timing of fertilizer application. It is theessence of PalayCheck’s Key Check 5, which is about nu-trient management, and is embedded in the integratednutrient management framework (Figure 1). Key Check5 targets sufficient nutrients during the tillering, earlypanicle initiation (EPI), and flowering stages. For far-mers to know the right element and amount of fertilizerto apply, Key […]

Over time, it is known that frequency of different climate change impacts like drought will continue to increase (IPCC, 2012; Cai et al., 2018; Gabriel et al., 2021). Drought causes major damage in agriculture. In rice cultivation, certain farmers had been reported ending up with zero yield (Pandey, Bhandari, Ding, et al., 2007)

What is varmix? Varietal Mixture (VarMix) is a mixture of seeds of selected varieties with closely similar agronomic traits but with genetic dissimilarities. Agronomic traits pertain to maturity, height, and grain size, and shape, while genetic dissimilarities refer to the distinct genetic makeup of a rice variety. These varieties have diverse functions to lessen the effects of both biotic (e.g. pest and diseases) and abiotic (e.g. water) stresses (Tooker & […]