SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija — The Philippine Rice
Research Institute vowed to continue to search for more farmer-sensitive,
responsive, healthy, and safe rice farming technologies.
Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, executive director of PhilRice, said
this at the 20th National Rice Research and Development (R&D) Conference,
scheduled to end today.
The conference gathered some 500 rice scientists, R&D workers
from agencies under the Department of Agriculture, state universities and
colleges, local government units, nongovernment and people’s organizations,
farmer-leaders and national and local media.
The conference, with the theme "Focusing on Quality Products
and Services, Safe Working Place, and Healthy Environment," highlighted PhilRice
and R&D network accomplishments—safe, environment-friendly, and sustainable
technologies for increasing productivity, partnerships and approaches in
promoting technologies, and new directions in rice R&D.
Sebastian said that in the Philippines, where rice farming is
the bread-and-butter of about three million farmers, rice R&D is crucial.
Quality products and services come with every research
activity of the Institute, he said. While it assures quality, the Institute is
also guided by the phrase "safe workplace and healthy environment", Sebastian
added.
PhilRice puts its employees’ and farmers’ welfare, and the
environment’s protection among its foremost considerations. It also reminds its
clientele to pay attention to potential farm hazards and putting into practice
preventive measures such as wearing protective equipment, handling and using
farm chemicals judiciously, and disposing of these properly to minimize health
risks.
PhilRice, a recipient of three certifications by an
international certifying body (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001), continues
to seek ways to improve rice R&D through varietal development and improvement,
crop management technology, farm machinery generation, and training and
extension services.
At the conference, PhilRice showcased the different
researches on rice technology generation and promotion, as well as scientific
poster viewing presentation of new knowledge products, and exhibit of different
rice technologies.
Kazuyuki Tsurumi, a representative from the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) was the keynote speaker.
On Thursday, a farmers’ field day was scheduled to be held
with more than 1,000 farmers, mostly from Luzon, witnessing the different
technologies.
Sebastian said the common interest that brings R&D workers
together in this conference is the need to do more to reduce the vast
disparities between yields in experiment stations and actual farmers’ yields.
"Ultimately, our main goal is to make rice available in the plates of the
steadily growing number of Filipinos".
