THE International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said it has partnered with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to push for higher adoption rate of climate change-resilient rice varieties among farmers in Region 4A to improve their productivity and cut weather-related losses.
In a news statement on Wednesday, Irri said they are currently working with PhilRice Los Baños Station “in accelerating the adoption of next-generation varities for smallholder farmers in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces.”
The partnership between the two agencies is through the NextGen project spearheaded by the Los Baños-based IRRI, which seeks to promote new rice varieties to Filipino farmers.
“We have good-quality varieties, which, coupled with mechanization and good farming practices and technologies, will boost rice production and improve the lives of farmers in the region,” PhilRice Los Baños Branch Director Rhemilyn Relado was quoted as saying in the statement.
The NextGen project was able to distribute 100 bags of NSIC Rc302 to farmers who attended PhilRice Los Baños Station’s Lakbay Palay held recently, according to IRRI.
NSIC Rc302, commonly known as Tubigan 25, is an IRRI-bred variety intended for irrigated lowlands. The rice variety is “characterized with extra-long and slender grains, fair brown rice and milling recovery, and improved eating quality,” according to IRRI.
“We hope that through this activity with PhilRice LB, NextGen will be able to spread IRRI-bred varieties further and realize our goal of making high-yielding and climate change-resilient varieties more available to our farmers,” IRRI assistant scientist Lorraine Cappleman said.
Lakbay Palay is a regular activity organized by PhilRice, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, which seeks to introduce farmers to better varieties and improved farming practices in the field, according to IRRI.