Written by the Web Team
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija – Hundreds of researchers, scientists, members of the academe, students, and farmers gathered at the Central Experiment Station of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) for the 25th National Rice R&D Conference, Sept. 4-6.
With the theme, Green and smart rice farming for food sufficiency, the conference brought together some of the brightest minds in the Philippine rice R&D to discuss the latest and cutting-edge innovations in the rice industry. Secretary Mario G. Montejo of the Department of Science and Technology keynotes the conference.
For three days, four plenary sessions and about 50 papers for concurrent sessions were presented along with nearly 100 technical posters for viewing. Returned PhilRice scholars, both from local and international universities, and lead scientists in rice R&D in other institutions delivered the presentations.
The four plenary sessions highlighted smart Initiatives for food sufficiency, increasing productivity and income through location-specific rice R&D, green and smart technologies and systems for food sufficiency, and green and smart rice farming for food sufficiency. 
Smart initiatives for food sufficiency talked about the forthcoming National Year of Rice, which is intended to increase stakeholder engagement towards pressing issues on rice such as rice wastage and rice sufficiency. It also presented the PhilRice transdiciplinary development roadmap.
The session on increasing productivity and income through location-specific rice R&D presented some of the biggest projects and initiatives in this area, including the packaging of location-specific technologies to make rice farming more precise, and increase farmers’ chance at getting higher rice yields.
Meanwhile, the session on green and smart technologies and systems for food sufficiency tackled energy in rice farming and the hybrid rice technology.
The green and smart rice farming for food sufficiency presented outputs from the Science and Technology-Based Farming Project, Food and Agriculture Organization, and University of the Philippines-Los Baños.
The National Rice R &D is the most significant event annually hosted by PhilRice. It opens avenues to discuss and challenge ideas and technologies concerning the country’s rice R&D.
