In its second Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall Meeting, DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) reported its accomplishments to thousand farmers during the Institute’s Lakbay Palay in Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Sept. 18-19.
A key milestone was achieved this year with the Philippine Good Agricultural Practices (PhilGAP) certification of the Manggalang Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (MARBENCO) in Sariaya, Quezon—the first cooperative in the country to receive this certification.
Following MARBENCO’s achievement, 289 farms covering 287.4ha have also received certification, with 1,002 additional farms under evaluation.
PhilRice also highlighted its ongoing contributions through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). Since its inception, the RCEF Seed Program has distributed 18.25 million bags of certified inbred seeds to 1.77 million farmers.
Meanwhile, the RCEF Extension Program has trained 290,000 farmers and extension workers, and 11.3 million rice-related informational materials have been distributed to further support the agricultural community.
Additionally, the Healthier Rice Program continues to promote safer, more nutritious rice. This year, 33,225 kilograms of seeds and 77,325 kilograms of milled rice have been distributed as promotional tokens to showcase healthier rice options for Filipino consumers.
PhilRice collaborates with local government units, national agencies, academic institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations through its major programs that include the Rice Seeds Systems, Scaling Modern and Adaptive Rice Technologies (SMART), and Rice Business Innovations System.