CALAMBA CITY, Laguna (PIA) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing to expand its strategic partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to support rice development in the country.

In a meeting with IRRI officials in Los Baños, Laguna on March 6, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. said that the DA will partner with IRRI in showcasing the seed varieties and technologies that the research institute has developed in a commercial scale to further increase rice output, especially in the face of climate change.

“Together with farmers, DA and its operating units like PhilRice, NIA, the National Rice Program, LGUs and IRRI, we will showcase convergence of interventions and services like mechanization and digitalization in these clustered farms. This, basically, will be commercial-scale testing,” Sec. Tiu Laurel said.

Càô Dúć Phat, chairman of IRRI’s board of trustees, welcomed Tiu Laurel’s proposal, and said that it is important to show the innovation developed by IRRI are effective as shown in the case of Vietnam, which has emerged as a major rice producer and primary source of imported rice for the Philippines. 

“The Philippines can be the model to the rest of the world to show how to bring these packages of technologies to be useful to the environment, to the farmers, and to the people generally. So we are very happy to do that,” he added.

The secretary said that they will start the program implementation by the second half of the year.

Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. visited the International Rice Genebank, the largest repository of rice genetic diversity in the world. (Photo by DA)

During his visit, Tiu-Laurel and Phat, along with other IRRI board of trustees visited key facilities in the research complex which include the Grain Quality Laboratory, where IRRI scientists successfully identified the genes responsible for the low and ultra-low glycemic index traits to rice.

He also observed a demonstration of the impact of planting density on rice crop through various crop establishment methods, and the usage of mapping drones equipped with high-resolution cameras, which measure crucial traits and real-time monitoring of crop health and performance.

The agri chief is keen on IRRI’s additional support and inputs for the government’s goal of attaining a rice-sufficient and food-secured Philippines by 2028.

“Let us continue to work together on technology scaling, utilization and deployment, as well as in setting priority research-for-development projects,” Tiu Laurel said. (CH/PIA-Laguna; with reports from DA)

Published Date: March 14, 2024