Dr. Norvie L. Manigbas, Scientist I and Chief Science Research Specialist of the Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Division, is the recipient of the 2018 Regional Gawad Saka Award for Outstanding Agricultural Scientist in Central Luzon.
He is known for his research in breeding rice varieties at PhilRice and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). His team led the development of the first released direct-wet seeded rice variety, NSIC Rc298, which is now grown nationwide. Currently, he has 5 patents of rice genotypes he helped develop with his team at the Institute.
He has also been involved in over 100 studies and collaborative researches with national and international research institutes and has published widely in local and international journals.
He leads a number of projects with support and collaborators from Japan, South Korea, and eight ASEAN-member countries. Among these projects include the development of heat-tolerant lines which are now at the National Cooperative Testing (NCT); variety development using Korean germplasm to improve grain quality and yield; seed multiplication and distribution of Philippine cultivars to farmers’ associations and cooperatives; capacity enhancement in rice production in Southeast Asia under organic agriculture system; and the Micrometeorological Instrument for Near Canopy Environment of Rice (MINCER) network with the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), NARO, and Gifu University in Japan.
Manigbas is one of the seven DOST-conferred scientists at PhilRice. He finished his Ph.D. in Agronomy (Crop Physiology and Plant Breeding) as a scholar of the Philippine Sugar Research Institute (PhilSuRin) where he served for 4 years working on molecular markers in sugarcane. After his Ph.D., he was accepted as Post-doctoral Fellow at the Functional Crops Division, Rural Development Administration, at Miryang, South Korea where he published six ISI journal publications and developed protocols for stress tolerance in rice in less than two years. He is from San Agustin 2, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Gawad Saka is an annual search by the Department of Agriculture for outstanding achievers in the field of the agriculture and fisheries.
