Rice-duck farming to increase rice yields.
TRENTO, Agusan del Sur -- After being consistent in its bid to go organic, this progressive agricultural town of Agusan del Sur Province has launched a new program that is being eyed to increase rice yields - the Integrated Rice-Duck Farming System. Although the rice-duck farming system...

Experts want gov't to prioritize rice farming, not tobacco.
Byline: JENNY F. MANONGDO The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP) asked yesterday the Department of Agriculture (DA) to focus on rice plantation instead of tobacco farming to manage the rice shortage in the country and to decrease tobacco-related diseases here. "In the light...

Nograles, Mitra push for rice corporate farming.
Byline: EDMER F. PANESA House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles and Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, said yesterday they are filing two measures aimed at helping the country survive a prolonged rice crisis, including promotion of food production through corporate farming. ...

Madagascar rice farming system cited.
Called the system for rice intensification (SRI), the method lays emphasis on plant quality rather than quantity and espouses early planting of seeds and end the flooding of fields. Under this system, water and seed costs are reduced substantially since it allows better root and leaf growth....

Enhanced intensive rice farming promoted.
Varinia Fabillar, chief agrarian reform program officer, said at a recent forum that the EIRP is expected to have a 300 percent increase in productivity for the farmers. "We had already started the EIRP in Alpaco, Naga City, and so far as of this time it's already...

Clustering approach in rice farming boosts sufficiency drive.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA A clustering approach to rice farming is sending the Philippines to a rice sufficiency status even as Nueva Ecija hybrid rice farmers attest to homogenously harvesting at least 180 cavans a hectare with the integrated farming scheme. An idea of maximizing...

Pichay: New rice farming method to double yield.
IRIGA CITY, Camarines Sur -- Team Unity senatorial bet Rep. Prospero Pichay urged Bicolano farm owners and farmers yesterday to adopt the "Pichay-Salazar System of Rice Intensification" for them to achieve a harvest that is more than double their present palay yield. In rallies in various towns...

Widening breach.
TWO issues, persistent as a toothache, have created the widest credibility dilemma affecting the national administration, including both houses of Congress. The first is the infamous or frightening predicament created by an important line department that is a perennial thorn in the rice sufficiency program. The Department...

P/$ rate closes at P44.04/$ 1.
Farmer subsidies to continue The government could spend as much as about P25 billion this year to keep subsidizing low-cost rice for the poor. The government spent P10 billion in the first half of the year so that people could buy rice at about P17.60 per kilo,...

Reduced tillage can cut costs.
IN these times of soaring costs of inputs in rice production, various ways of cutting costs is the big challenge. One way of cutting costs in irrigated rice land is eliminating some of the usual chores. We just interviewed earlier this week Manuel Jose Regalado of the...