by Roger F. Barroga
Overview
of the Rice Situation in the Philippines
Rice is perhaps the most important food
staple in the Philippines. However, its production faces serious challenges
from the effects of climate change, globalization, increasing population, and
dwindling land resources. The Philippines is ranked 3rd most
affected by natural calamities in the world. About 24 cyclones each year cause
destruction of agriculture sector.
In spite of these challenges, the
Philippines has been able to keep up pace with population’s demand for rice
through the efforts of rice research and development. New modern rice varieties and hybrid rice
varieties doubled the rice yields using the same land area. Importation has been
kept to a minimum annually just to maintain a buffer stock during lean months
but there have been no serious rice shortages in the last couple of decades.
With this breakeven harvest, and high cost of production, the Philippines will
face serious competition from cheaper rice of other countries when the trade
barriers will be lifted in 2017.
The picture on the ground, however, is not
so good. Heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides polluted the
soil, water, and caused pesticides resistance, and loss of natural predators.
Despite increased productivity of the rice fields, farmers’ real incomes and
health have deteriorated – leaving them as one of the poorest sectors in
society. With incomes below the poverty line, farmers and their children suffer
from poor nutrition, and lack food security.
How research is creating smarter rice production system
At the national level, the Philippines
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) are undertaking collaborative rice research and development under the
Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) to address the issues self-sufficiency
and food security, protection of the environment, adaptation to climate change,
and enhance global competitiveness. There are seven components:
1.
Philippine Rice Information System (PRISM) – use of satellite technology to map the total rice area, monitor
crop growth, potential harvest, and area damaged by drought, landslides, and
floods;
2.
Accelerating the development and adoption of next generation rice
varieties for major ecosystems in the Philippines (NextGen) – using molecular biology to create tolerant rice varieties to
abiotic and biotic stresses, such as salinity, drought, flood, and heat and cold
temperatures, and new strains of pest and diseases.
3.
Rice Crop Manager – a decision support
app for smart phones and tab, to enable farmers to get precise, location
specific nutrient management recommendation – such as when to apply the right
kind, amount and time based on the rice growth stage and farmers’ location.
4.
Associated technologies –development of
location-specific water technology on water, weeds, pest, diseases, including
farm labor and machinery.
5.
Heirloom rice - collection, characterization
and preservation of traditional rice varieties for breeding work; creates value
added products to provide new income opportunities for indigenous people who
own the traditional varieties.
6.
IPaD – improving rice technology promotion and delivery by enhancing
the capability of the next generation of extension professionals and other
intermediaries. New learning modalities, use of
modern ICT tools; exposure to successful agri entrepreneurs; shift from mere
transfer of information to increase farm output towards change in values toward
community transformation.
7.
Cross-country research – benchmarking
the Philippine rice economy relative to major rice producing countries in Asia.
This study looks into policies and investments made by neighboring countries that
have strengthened their rice industry to guide our decision makers.
The
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) adopts recasts its R&D
program
In 2014, PhilRice adopted a new framework
for its rice R&D to respond to the present and future challenges in rice
production. It adopted a clean, green, practical, and smart rice R&D for
competitiveness, sustainability, and resiliency of farming communities.
This marked a major shift in focus from
merely increasing rice production to the sustainability of the rice environment,
maximizing the use of rice and its by-products, increasing farmers’ incomes,
improving their health, nutrition, and well being; and enhancing competitiveness
and resiliency of rice farming communities.
The new R&D programs include:
1.
Integrated Rice Agri-BioSystems –developing
crop integration with rice and crop intensification for additional income and
food sources, vegetables, livestock,
fish, ducks to maximize space and time; developing community based food
production and processing chain to localize food sources; waste and nutrient
recycling;
2.
High value products from rice – exploring
pharmaceutical and industrial products from the rice plant, developing new food
products from rice, and mass production of beneficial microorganisms in rice;
3.
Farming without Fossil Fuel –
alternative sources of fuel for farm energy, such as rice hull gasifiers,
ethanol from plants, biodiesel from commercial oils, and use of compressed air,
solar powered electricity, wind and hydro power.
4.
Coping with Climate Change – development
of heat, drought, flood, and salinity tolerant rice varieties; monitoring and
weather information services; development of mitigating measures for predicted
climate changes.
5.
FutureRice - the outputs of the four
research programs will be sent to the FutureRice program for systems
integration in an actual farm conditions. The program tests and integrates
other innovations from external sources such as industry, commercial
agribusiness corporations, or global organizations. The integration process
will address two scenarios, (1) peak oil scenario when there is no longer fuel
for farm transport, energy, chemical fertilizers and pesticides; and (2) high
technology global competition in rice production, including mechanization,
precision agriculture, and farm automation.
How
will smart rice farms of future be like?
We envision the farms of the future as rice
based agri-enterprise with multiple income streams, using natural farming
techniques and modern technology, climate resilient varieties, mechanized, using
clean and renewable energy; and using ICTs for automation and precision farming.
1.
Multiple crops
2.
Water harvesting
3.
Renewable energy
4.
High tech sensing equipment
5.
Own weather station
6.
Connected to apps
7.
Farming machines
8.
Right kind of rice varieties
9.
Makes the most of extreme
conditions
10.
Natural pesticides and
fertilizers
We located our 5 hectare model farm near
the farming communities in Munoz, Nueva Ecija, so we showcase clean GPS
innovations. They can be part of the
innovation and transformation process. The farm is divided into high technology
area, which showcases various hybrid rice varieties, machinery, and computer
based crop management apps. We also have a natural farming area where reduced
tillage technique, ecological engineering, organic rice culture, use of azolla
and sesbania, vermicompost, soil humus and probiotics technology is
showcased. Other components of the farm
include:
·
Farm Mechanization – use of
mechanical rice planter and combine harvested;
·
Clean energy – use of biogas,
solar power, and bioethanol to power small water pump engine
·
A water harvesting – a big pond
was constructed to collect excess irrigation water and rainwater; it will be
equipped with 4 stage filtration system to clean the water of sedimentation,
heavy metals and nitrates. A water
recirculation system will be made to be powered by alternative energy sources
to pump water from the main pond to the plots, triggered by sensors and water
gates and switches
·
Traditional rice varieties; Korean
varieties; submergence varieties, rice fish culture for protein
·
Assorted vegetables sprayed
only with organic and plant based pesticide for additional income;
·
The now serves as a rice boot
camp for the new breed of extension workers; we have also invited out-of- school
youth around the community to grow and learn modern rice farming; an
AgriKapihan – or coffee meeting/dialogue with farmers on important topics
during the various growth stages of the rice crop.
·
The farm is now fully automated
with Wi-Fi hotspot, automatic weather station, field water level sensors, and
remote CCTV access in my mobile or tab.
A farm management software is under construction. New nutrient management
apps such as the MOET are now being tested. The farm will also be using UAVs
and ground sensors to monitor crop growth parameters, as well as test its
application for nutrient and pest management.
·
Under construction are
additional energy sheds for biodiesel, bio ethanol and rice hull gasifier
systems. Also under construction is the
biomass processing and probiotics sheds. A greenhouse will also be erected for
rice and vegetable seedlings production, including aquaponics technology.
We envision for the integration of these
innovations into scale and modular, so that farmers can adopt a set or a
combination of innovations that is applicable to their needs. These innovations could be a the
crop-livestock layer, or coupled with farm automation using practical ICTs and energy
systems.
The final feature of the farm is farm
tourism. We are creating a farm where people who visit will learn, earn, and
have a different rice experience. Students can join the rice straw art
competition, a campaign to stop burning of rice straw. Visitors can also enjoy
rice paddy art – a famous hero’s face, Dr. Jose Rizal, is created using red
rice plants. Finally, visitors may enjoy fishing and kayaking in the water
harvesting pond.
Thus, the farms of the future will
enable farmers to have multiple food sources and income streams, producing
safer food, and preserving the environment.
Thank you very much.
Writer: Roger F. Barroga
Visit and like our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/FutureRice
1Presented at the Forum 2015 COHRED Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health, 24-27 August 2015, Manila, Philippines.
2Information Technology Officer III and Program Leader, FutureRice; rfbarroga@gmail.com; www.facebook.com/FutureRice. Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, www.philrice.gov.ph
2Information Technology Officer III and Program Leader, FutureRice; rfbarroga@gmail.com; www.facebook.com/FutureRice. Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, www.philrice.gov.ph
Writer: Roger F. Barroga
Visit and like our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/FutureRice
