PRISM, a great advantage

At the 5th Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) convention, the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol, through a message read by his representative Assistant Secretary Andrew Villacorta, highlighted the government’s aim to provide affordable food for the people  by investing in research and development of modern technologies.

In Sec. Piñol’s keynote message, he stated “An information system on rice is a big step for us to achieve our goal of rice food security accompanied by enhancing the industry’s competitiveness.” He acknowledged PRISM for providing the agriculture department with timely information on rice areas, production, yield estimate and other factors affecting it, and for helping regional field offices in enhancing their capability in ground data collection, data management, geographic information systems, and other relevant skills.

Philippine government supports continued operation of satellite-based rice monitoring system

(From left) IRRI Deputy Director General for Communication and Partnerships Bruce Tolentino, DA Field Operations Service Director Andrew Villacorta, DA Undersecretary for Operations Ariel Cayanan, PhilRice Executive Director Sailila Abdula, and PhilRice Deputy Executive Director for Research and PRISM lead Eduardo Jimmy Quilang at the PRISM annual meeting. 

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—"We are not done here because we still have a long way to go, and now our project will go into the hands of the real users," shared Dr. Ariel Cayanan, undersecretary for operations of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) during the 2nd Annual Executive Meeting of the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) project on 29 March.

PRISM is the first satellite-based rice monitoring system in Southeast Asia. The main goal of the project is to develop an online system that consolidates and presents accurate, timely, and location-specific information on rice production.

"PRISM maps and monitors rice areas, and produces yield estimates," said Dr. Eduardo Jimmy Quilang, PRISM project leader and deputy executive director for Research at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

PRISM provides maps and other information at the provincial level, which are freely accessible on its website. These will help the national and local governments make timely decisions or appropriate interventions to meet their respective rice production targets. PRISM can help policymakers understand what factors affect rice production, the most destructive of which are pests and diseases, for instance.

Using cloud-penetrating radar technology, PRISM is very useful in disaster preparedness and rapid response to any emergency situation.

"In the past three years, whenever flooding or drought affected our rice areas, we call on the PRISM team to provide us with detailed information on the areas that are affected by such calamities," said Cayanan. He stressed that the data that PRISM provides can supplement official statistics used by the government.

"Implementation of PRISM by PhilRice, with IRRI's support, will promote the success of the Philippine government's effort to add focus on historically underserved areas such as Mindanao,” said Dr. Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general for Communication and Partnerships at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

PhilRice Executive Director Sailila Abdula urged the PRISM team to collaborate and form partnerships with other government agencies, such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, and potential stakeholders like the Department of Interior and Local Government. He also underscored the importance of capitalizing on human resources.

According to Quilang, PRISM started as a research and development (R&D) project in 2013 and the R&D stage of the project will officially end by December 2017. “But this does not mean that the project itself will end because PRISM will now move into the operational phase under the management of the DA,” explained Quilang.

“The DA will continue to provide strategic directions, policies, and guidelines, PhilRice will establish the center unit of PRISM, and the DA regional field officers will continue to meet the operations at the regional level," he said.

Quilang added that other partners in the attached agencies will continue to validate all the information generated and serve as data sources while partners IRRI and sarmap will serve as technical consultants.

"Our meeting today has highlighted the impact that PRISM made in various parts of the country," said Abdula. "We found that, without a doubt, it has revolutionized rice science technology. This is only one of the many reasons why we support the sustainability of the project."

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Extension workers take part in expanding the Philippine rice information system

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—Agricultural extension workers are crucial in disseminating information and providing recommendations to increase the productivity of Filipino rice farmers. To enhance their skills, more than 120 of them from all regions of the country attended a workshop to prepare for widening the coverage of a monitoring and information system for sustaining stable rice production.

The Crop Health Training Workshop, held at the headquarters of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in two batches in September, was conducted by the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM), a project funded by the Department of Agriculture (DA). The participants learned more about identifying and managing rice diseases, animal pests, and weeds. It also included how PRISM’s protocol for crop health assessment and characterization of production situations can be effectively introduced in farmers’ fields.

 “With the involvement of extension workers, it is easier to tap more people as we expand our monitoring sites,” said Ulysses Duque, a crop protection expert from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). PRISM has been monitoring 1,060 fields throughout the country since the second semester of 2016.

“Our role is to be agents of change by extending good technologies to farmers to increase their rice production,” said Jurevey Lagaras, an agricultural technologist from Region XI. “This training refreshed our knowledge and skills in identifying and managing rice pests. If we cannot determine what rice disease or insect pests are present, we will not be able to provide the correct recommendations.”

“Being part of this national project is the first step to reach our common goal, which is to provide food self-sufficiency in the country,” said Vincent Jun Caminero, a municipal agriculturist from Region XI.

Mina Joy Wigan, Region II Agricultural Technologist, encouraged other extension workers to support PRISM. “We hope we can convince other extension workers to participate in the project since our goal is to have an accurate and timely database with national coverage.”

“The training is a great opportunity to help us prepare for the expansion of PRISM’s crop health component,” said Levie Legarda, a science research specialist from Region VI. “It is an honor to be part of such big project supported by the DA and IRRI.”

Joselito Villa, associate scientist at IRRI’s plant disease management group, facilitated the PRISM Crop Health Training.

Resource persons from IRRI included Ryong Choi, plant virologist; Casiana Vera Cruz, plant pathologist; Bo Zhou, host plant resistance expert; Jhoana Opeña, weed scientist; Maria Liberty Almazan, agricultural plant science expert; Grant Singleton, rodent biology and management expert; Alexander Stuart, plant protection expert; Buyung Hadi, entomologist; and John Bethany Macasero, researcher. Joining them were Duque and Gertrudo Arida, senior consultant, both from PhilRice.

PRISM is a collaborative project among the DA, PhilRice, IRRI, and sarmap. PRISM integrates data from remote sensing, crop modeling, and smartphone-based surveys to deliver accurate, timely, and actionable information on rice crop seasonality, area, yield, flood and drought damage, and crop health.

The regional and national data gathered by PRISM is available at www.philippinericeinfo.ph.

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Agriculture Partylist vows to help bring modern rice technology to Filipino farmers

Cong. Salon (left) visited IRRI headquarters to learn about the scientific research program of the institute and these can be shared with Filipino rice farmers.

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—“We need to popularize these technologies,” Congressman Orestes Salon of the AGRI Partylist of the Philippines said after being briefed on the activities of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).  

Congressman Salon and his staff visited IRRI headquarters on 9 September to learn about the scientific research program of IRRI and how the results of research can be shared with Filipino rice farmers.

“We want to be able to pick up technologies on producing more rice per unit area,” he said. “What are the new technologies that address climate change? The farmers need them because they are already feeling the impact of climate change like flooding and drought but they are not prepared. Climate change affects the rich as well as the poor. But the poor are the ones who are very vulnerable.”

The AGRI Partylist advocates for the welfare of farmers, fisherfolks, and families who belong to marginalized groups who do not have the access to basic social services in different parts of the country. They implement programs that aim to benefit those experiencing severe poverty and need assistance to meet their basic human needs.

During the Party’s visit, they learned about IRRI’s work in developing rice varieties that can thrive under erratic weather patterns and produce more nutritious grains, the application of satellite imagery to rice production, water-conserving technology, and training for young scientists and extension workers.

Dr. Olivyn Angeles (in photo) from Crops and Environmental Science Division, and Dr. Shoba Venkatanagappa from the Plant Breeding Division, also provide the party with an overview of the Long-Term Continuous Cropping Experiment and IRRI’s breeding lines.

“IRRI brings together the traits in rice that are required by the poorest of the poor farmers all over the world,” Venkatanagappa explained. “We are trying to help increase the profitability of farmers so they don’t have to spend too much on expensive agricultural input and they don’t have to suffer from complete crop loss. We are in the business of reducing poverty.  Every farmer needs to have a chance. We try to develop varieties that help farmers get that one chance.”  

Dr. Bruce Tolentino, deputy director for Communication and Partnerships, emphasized that IRRI is an international public institution and its research and technologies can be accessed and used by everyone.

“This is really eye-opening,” said Congressman Salon. “We can translate the information into a popular form so that farmers and our other constituents can avail of them. We hope to come back with the entire Congressional Agriculture and Food Committee.”

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GIS skills of Philippine agriculture field officers sharpened

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) project is conducting a series of workshops on basic geographic information systems (GIS) for its regional partners. Funded by the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA), the activity trains field officers and local government units in visualizing rice area and yield, GPS-based field observations, and other data generated by PRISM for planning programs and interventions for the country’s rice sector.

The training (photos above) is enhancing the skills of DA-Regional Field Offices and local government units (LGU) staff in using QGIS, a free and open source GIS software. The workshop uses actual data collected at PRISM monitoring sites throughout the country.

At the end of each season, PRISM generates accurate and timely information on rice areas, the start of cropping seasons, and rice yield that can help the national government and the rice-growing regions develop policies and plans related to rice production, particularly in mitigating the impacts of natural calamities and reducing yield losses caused by pests. Around 19 tropical cyclones or storms enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility every year, and of these, usually 6 to 9 make landfall causing considerable crop damage. The information collected by PRISM is available through its portal.

The training helps in understanding the value of presenting data in map format, according to a workshop participant.

"The training is useful in data processing and analysis," added another enthusiastic participant. “The information generated will serve as the basis for decision-making, evaluation, and development of rice projects.”

 
The Basic GIS Training was held in July and August for DA representatives from:
12-14 July: DA-RFO IX and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM), which was held in Laguna
19-21 July: DA-RFOs I and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in La Union
19-21 July: DA-RFOs VI and Negros Island Region (NIR) in Iloilo City
26-28 July: DA-RFOs V, VII, and VIII in Cebu City
9-11 August: DA-RFOs X, XI, and XII in Davao City
16-18 August: DA-RFO’s IV and IVB in Tagaytay City
23-25 August: DA-RFO III in Pampanga
23-25 August: DA-RFO II in Tuguegarao City

23-25 August: Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) facilitators in Nueva Ecija

The remaining workshops will be held in September and October 2016 for DA-RFO XIII and PRISM crop health specialists, respectively.

The workshops are being conducted by PRISM staff from the International Rice Research Institute(IRRI) and PhilRice. The lead trainers from IRRI are Arnel Rala, Cornelia Garcia, Aileen Maunahan, and  Jeny Raviz. The PhilRice trainers are Mary Rose Mabalay, Juanito Maloom, Elmer Alosnos, Mabel Barroga, and James Leyte. 

Mary Anne Gutierrez, Jane Girly Balanza, Neale Marvin Paguirigan, Creigton Czar Guevarra, Ethel Princess Banasihan, and Frances Grace Amanquiton are co-facilitating the training series.

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Philippine Rice Information System wins research award

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines – The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) has won the 2016 Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation, Inc. (PARRFI) Research and Development Award. PRISM received  the recognition during the recently concluded Syensaya, a series of activities and events held every year for National Science and Technology Week (NSTW).

Syensaya is an initiative of the Los Baños Science Community Foundation, Inc. in solidarity with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in its annual celebration of NSTW.

The award recognized research work conducted under PRISM as documented in the paper, Mapping and monitoring rice areas in the Philippines: The PRISM Project experience. The paper described collaborative work among the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), sarmap, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The effort is integrating data from remote sensing, crop modeling, and smartphone-based surveys to deliver accurate, timely, and actionable information on rice crop seasonality, area, yield, damage due to flood and drought, and crop health.

PRISM is funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research of the DA (DA-BAR). Watch the 16-minute video above for an in-depth overview of the project. In 2015, the PRISM team developed the first high-resolution maps of rice areas in the Philippines. The maps have an overall accuracy of 85% based on more than 2,200 ground observations and agreement with provincial-level official yield statistics.

Since the launch of the PRISM website in June, the project has made information on Philippine rice production more accessible. This information is available to the DA and other decision makers to guide them in planning or creating policy to improve Philippine rice production and in responding to needs that arise during and after disasters.

“The hard work and strong collaboration among PRISM team members from DA, PhilRice, sarmap, and IRRI has led to the team's early successes,” said Alice Laborte, who is the PRISM project leader and GIS and market research specialist at IRRI. “This award will surely inspire the team to work harder and contribute more toward making essential information on rice available to those who need it.”

Eduardo Jimmy Quilang, PRISM project leader at PhilRice, sent his gratitude to the DA and project team members: “I congratulate the PRISM team for this award. Truly, they deserve this as one of the fruits of their hard work and sacrifices. I also commend the DA for their full support, and look forward to more from this project as it is very timely and of great significance to the country."

Representatives from PRISM partner agencies who attended the awarding were, from IRRI, Laborte, Nancy Castilla, Arnel Rala, Joselito Villa, Emma Quicho, Ruvicyn Bayot, Jeny Raviz, Abel Callejo, and John Bethany Macasero; from PhilRice, Leonardo Marquez, Arturo Arocena Jr., Jesiree Elena Ann Bibar, Henry Cayaban, Michael Barroga, Janica Gan, and James Elwyn Leyte; from DA, Ronald Roces; and from DA-BAR Raymond Patrick Cabrera.


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Rice information system crucial to national action plan to reduce the impact of El Niño

A map from PRISM using satellite images shows all
cropland in Mindanao affected by drought attributed to El Niño.

MANILA, Philippines—Accurate, timely, and location-specific information on rice production is important in developing a national action plan to reduce the impact of El Niño and other events that can reduce rice productivity.

“The Philippines has been experiencing El Niño for the past year,” said Allan Umali, assistant secretary for administration of the Department of Agriculture (DA), on behalf of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala. "But the agriculture sector is still expected to bring food to everyone's table," he said.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns associated with droughts. The current El Niño, which started in 2015, was predicted to be  strongest since 1998 and much lower rainfall is expected until the first half of 2016 throughout Southeast Asia.  Although El Niño is predicted to wane, the United Nations expects harvests will continue to be affected not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world throughout the year.

Philippine policymakers have put together an action plan on helping affected farmers mitigate the impact of the recurring climatic events such as El Niño. Among the recommended strategies in the plan include growing drought-tolerant crops, adopting water-efficient techniques, performing cloud seeding, among other climate-smart technologies.

The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM), a joint project of the DA and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), can also support strategic decision making and planning of interventions to boost rice production, targeting of productivity-enhancing technologies and programs, disaster preparedness and rapid response to emergency situations, among others.

Through remote sensing, crop modeling, cloud computing, and smartphone-based surveys, PRISM can combine data from satellite and the ground to give crucial information about rice. These include rice area, planting dates, yield estimates, areas affected by flood or drought, rice crop production situation, and extent of damages caused by pests.

“PRISM enables us to  determine the crop growth stage when a typhoon or drought strikes,” explained Dr. Alice Laborte, GIS and market research specialist at IRRI. “We can also ascertain  whether or not a particular area has been planted to rice during a specific season. And if not planted to rice, what specific problems may have contributed to this so that interventions can be made.”

Laborte reported that she and her team had  developed a proposal on early warning system for pests and diseases so that appropriate and timely interventions can be made when and where they are needed.

"For food self-sufficiency, I think PRISM will be a valuable tool because we can now pinpoint areas where development is needed,” said Dr. Calixto Protacio, executive director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute. “For example, we can see which communities have very low yields, map these out, and then target them or provide support to these communities. We have an average yield of 4.01 tons per hectare, but the others are just averaging maybe 1 ton. So it's as bad as that. So if we know where these are, then we can better target these communities and give them the support needed.”

Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, has recently proposed a bill that would require local government units to allocate a portion of their budget to pay for information and communication technology applications that would enhance taking full advantage of the data provided by PRISM.

“Modern tools,  mechanization, and financial literacy could help make Philippine agriculture more productive and competitive,” Villar said.

“Around the world, innovations in agriculture are helping desperately poor communities and even water-scarce nations cope with the challenges they face," added Bruce Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships at IRRI. "These science-based innovations are helping to avoid famine, are reducing poverty, and are even promoting inclusive economic prosperity.”

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Senator Villar supports rice information system project in the Philippines

Senator Cynthia Villar browses through PRISM website.

MANILA, Philippines—“The benefits and advantages that the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) project had provided us so far cannot be discounted,” said Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food. “Thus, its continuation by the Department of Agriculture (DA) is utmost welcome.

“Science and technology and agriculture should go together to improve this country,” Villar added. “I’m introducing a bill requiring the local government units to allocate a certain percentage of their development funds to agriculture so that they can have the facilities to access PRISM.”

DA Secretary Proceso Alcala echoed Villar’s sentiments. “The project has already delivered remarkable outputs and showed great potential,” said Allan Umali, DA assistant secretary for administration, on behalf of Alcala during the PRISM Project’s first Annual Executive Meeting on 31 March.  The event also marked the soft launch of the PRISM website (http://philippinericeinfo.ph), which will be available to project partners and policy-makers.

PRISM is an on-going project led by the DA, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and sarmap. It aims to support decision-making toward improved rice production through an operational rice information system. It uses state-of-the-art technologies to provide accurate, detailed, timely, and location-specific information on rice.

“The Philippines is the first in Southeast Asia to set up such an information system,” said Umali.

Since 2014, PRISM has provided the DA with detailed data on rice area and yield every season at 85% accuracy, assessments of areas with standing rice crop, estimates of damages from typhoons, and standardized protocol and training of partners for assessing injuries caused by pests.

“The unique part of PRISM is that it combines information from the satellite and the ground to get information on the rice area, seasonality, yield, flood- and drought-affected areas, rice crop production situation, and incidence of pest injuries,” said Dr. Bruce Tolentino, IRRI deputy director general for communication and partnerships. “This combined information improves our capacity to manage events as they take place and to mitigate the impact over time. That is something you cannot see anywhere else.”

Dr. Calixto Protacio, PhilRice executive director, added that the rice maps produced by PRISM can show planting synchrony, which affects the occurrence of pests and diseases, within a region.

Senator Villar (3rd from right) makes a point during a press
conference following PRISM's Annual Executive Meeting.

Alcala also highly recommended the institutionalizationof PRISM within the DA, with PhilRice as its host institution. At present, PhilRice, IRRI, and DA Regional Field Offices (DA-RFOs) handle all PRISM operations.

“The rice information system will be owned, operated, and sustained by the DA starting 2018,” said Dr. Alice Laborte, PRISM project leader at IRRI. “This will complement existing systems in the DA that guide strategy and interventions for food security at national and regional levels.

“At the moment, infrastructures, including resources and personnel, have been mobilized and PhilRice will be able to set up the PRISM unit. This will be the center for all PRISM operations, processes, and maintenance,” said Laborte.

Officials from the DA, DA RFOs, PhilRice, IRRI, the Bureau of Agricultural Research, Philippine Statistics Authority-Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, and the Bureau of Plant Industry attended the meeting to discuss the project’s accomplishments, outputs, and plans for its sustainability.



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First national convention for PRISM held

The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) project held its first National Convention from 9-12 November 2015 at the Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City. The national convention, which was jointly organized by the Philippine Rice Research Institute, the Department of Agriculture National Rice Program, and the International Rice Research Institute, was attended by partners from all the participating regions in the country, as well as partners from the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The week-long event had three components: (1) presentation of the overall outputs and accomplishments of the project, (2) assessment of project implementation, (3) and a planning workshop for the activities and financial requirements in the following years. The outputs, which include rice area maps, yield estimates, damage assessments, production situation, and incidence of pests and diseases, were presented by Ms. Mary Rose Mabalay (PhilRice) and Mr. Edwin Martin (PhilRice).

The assessment part was participatory. The participants were asked to identify issues and propose strategies to address those issues. The planning workshop was a special component of the convention and was organized to finalize the sustainability plan of each region.

Jojo Lapitan and Edmund Sana, FSSP project consultants, provided guidance to the participants as they prepared the plan for their region.

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Supporting food security from space

The Sentinel-1A mosaic stretches from Pakistan to the Philippines, with green areas showing vegetation, including rice (SAR imagery from ESA: Sentinel-1A © Copernicus data (2015). Background from Google Earth © Google Inc. Sentinel 1A mosaic created by sarmap and IRRI using Mapscape-RICE).

Los Baños, Philippines and Purasca, Switzerland – Standing rice crops in some parts of the world are routinely devastated by storms and extreme weather events, threatening the food security and livelihood of half of humanity. “sarmap and IRRI have developed tools that bring more transparency and accurate information to those who manage rice production, which is certainly important in general, and absolutely crucial for meaningful and targeted disaster response,” said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). “Decision-makers need to know when and where rice is planted and harvested.”

PRISM conducts training on assessing impact of pest and disease damage on rice production

A study conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)  found that, on average, farmers lose 37% of their rice yield to pests and diseases, and that these losses can range between 24% and 41% depending on the production situation. Although researchers have a good idea of what pests and diseases affect rice, they do not always have a clear picture of where individual or groups of pests and diseases occur and how much effect they have on rice yield.

The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) is a rice monitoring system to enhance rice production in the Philippines under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Food Staples Sufficiency Program. The 4-year project provides accurate and timely information on Philippine rice production. This information comes in the form of maps, statistics, and reports, and covers rice production area, crop health, crop losses due to natural calamities, and assessment of and extent of pest damage. These are derived from data collected through remote-sensing technology, crop modeling, and field and farmer surveys and are available through a web-based interface.

The Crop Health Component of PRISM conducts activities to provide information on pest risks and pest management strategies. Under this component, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and IRRI have been organizing national and regional training workshops to build the capacity of partners in the identification of pest injuries and use of the survey procedure.

Recently, PRISM held the National Training and Assessment on Crop Health for its regional partners from the DA and local government units. Approximately 100 participants from 16 regions in the Philippines attended the workshop. They were trained in conducting surveys to assess injuries caused by pests and diseases, characterize production situation, and quantify yield in representative farmers’ fields using a standardized procedure developed by IRRI. In addition, the training activity covered conducting effective training programs on crop health, management of the most common pests and diseases in the Philippines, basic principles in data presentation, and identification of pest injuries.  The training workshop also assessed the progress of activities in the regions and discussed plans for 2016.

The workshop was jointly organized by the Philippine Rice Research Institute, IRRI, and the DA Regional Field Office in Region VI.  It was held at Diversion 21 Hotel in Iloilo City on 19-22 October.

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PRISM conducts 5-day writeshop to draft its operations manual

Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines - The Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) team members from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and IRRI had a five-day (6-10 July 2015) writeshop to draft the 1st version of the PRISM operations manual.

The manual is a compilation of protocols for data collection, data and image processing, yield estimation, crop health assessment, data management, conduct of training, and accessing PRISM data. This manual will be essential for the Philippine Department of Agriculture to be able to conduct PRISM activities in both national and regional levels.

This writeshop activity involved specialists on remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), crop health, information technology ( IT ), and development communication to package the protocols. Members of the PRISM management team from IRRI, such as Dr. Andy Nelson,  Dr. Alice Laborte, and  Dr. Nancy Castilla, served as writers and reviewers.  Printed copies of the manual will be distributed to agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

Group photo: (L-R, 3rd row) Denis Diaz-Maco, Leonardo Marquez, Arturo Arocena Jr., Andy Nelson, Dindo King Donayre, Ulysses Duque (L-R, 2nd row) Henry Cayaban, Miguel Abriol-Santos, Arnel Rala, Jean Rochielle Mirandilla, Emma Quicho, Jesiree Elena Ann Bibar, Alice Laborte, Ruvicyn Bayot, Ethel Princess Banasihan; (L-R, 1st row) Nancy Castilla, Hannah Zarah Bhatti, Jeny Raviz, Pristine Mabalot, Mary Anne Gutierrez, Mary Rose Mabalay, Mabel Barroga, Joselito Villa

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