Rice straw project team wins the outstanding research and development award in the Los Baños science community

IRRI delivers through research excellence. The Sustainable Rice Straw Management project team won the Development Category of the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation, Inc. (PARRFI) Outstanding Research and Development Awards. The award will be given by the Los Baños Science Community Foundation, Inc. (LBSCFI) on August 30 during the National Science and Technology week, SyenSaya 2019. 

The team’s winning entry was “Sustainable Rice Straw Management in the Philippines”, which highlights the effort of IRRI, together with its partners from the Philippine Rice Research Institute, Philippine Carabao Center, the Philippine Postharvest Development Center and Mechanization (PhilMech), and the University of the Philippines Los Baños towards creating sustainable rice straw management technologies and practices in the country. Through the project, the following technologies were developed: 1) inoculant- supported rice straw incorporation, 2) mechanized collection of rice straw; 3) rice –straw based mushroom production; 4) rice straw silage for ruminants, 5) mechanized composting; and 6 ) rice straw for bioenergy. The project also enabled cross country training and workshops that generate knowledge learning and sharing among project partners in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam.


The IRRI team is comprised of different scientists and researchers from the Mechanization and Postharvest Cluster and the Soil, Air, Water, and Climate Cluster of the Sustainable Impact Platform and Market Research Cluster from the Agri- Food Policy platform. The project is being led by Dr. Nguyen Van Hung and Engr. Martin Gummert.

The LBSCFI was established by the Department of Science and Technology to foster knowledge and resource sharing on the research and development breakthroughs among research agencies located in Los Baños, Laguna, where IRRI is a member of. The SyenSaya is the LBSCFI’s local celebration of the Department of Science and Technology's (DOST) National Science and Technology Week. The theme of this year's SyenSaya is “Enabling Technologies for Sustainable Development.”

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