IRRI solidifies partnership with PhilRice at the 30th National Rice R&D Conference

IRRI joined the 30^th National Rice R&D Conference held at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) Central Experiment Station in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija on 5-6 September. Deputy Director for Communication and Partnerships Bruce Tolentino headed the IRRI delegation and presented the institute’s 2017-2025 strategic plan.

Ramil Mauleon, scientist II, discussed the recently available bioinformatics resources on rice, the 3K ++ rice genomes, and the International Rice Informatics Consortium. In the same plenary session, senior scientist, Casiana Vera Cruz presented the accomplishments of the completed Department of Agriculture (DA)-IRRI project Raising productivity and enriching the legacy of heirloom/traditional rice of the Cordilleras through community empowerment in unfavorable rice-based ecosystem (HRP Phase I).

IRRI researchers, Andres Godwin C. Sajise and Romeo Cabangon, talked about rice-based technology as they presented their papers New generation salt tolerant varieties resilient to climate change and AutoMonPH- An ICT tool to improve adoption of water saving technologies in rice”.

IRRI also participated in the poster presentation competition by sending eight entries, five of which were from the Heirloom Rice Project (HRP). One of the posters, Minimizing postharvest losses and preserving the quality of heirloom rice of the Philippine Cordilleras authored by Joseph Sandro, Ana Cope, Martin Gummert, and Dr. Vera Cruz, won first place under the theme Technology promotion and delivery, consumer preferences, and market information.

Another entry, the Morpho-agronomic characterization of Heirloom Rice Varieties by Renato Reano, Pauline Capistrano, Dr. Cope, and Dr. Vera Cruz received second place under the Rice germplasm, traditional/heirloom rices, rice-based products, and nutrition theme. The posters were evaluated for their originality, visual impact, significance of findings, and organization and clarity of presentation.

HRP gives thanks to the Philippines DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research for funding support, and acknowledges the partnership of the following: heirloom rice farmers of Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the staff of participating state college and universities (Benguet State University, Ifugao State University, Kalinga State University, and Mountain Province State Polytechnic College), local government units in Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mt. Province, staff of PhilRice, DA-Regional Field Office-CAR and other collaborators (DA-National Rice Program and Kelloggs)

IRRI’s participation on this annual conference highlights the long history of collaboration and strong partnership with PhilRice and its other national program partners. 

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