Agriculture

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will organize a youth hub in the Philippines in 2025 to engage young people in agriculture. FAO Philippines’ representative Lionel Dabbadie said part of the initiatives that FAO works globally include agrifood systems, which are related to innovations, indigenous peoples, and the youth. “We are at the stage of organizing …

The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund under Republic Act 12078 has been extended to 2031 from tariffs of imported rice and the annual budget was raised from P10 to P30 billion supposedly to fund the modernization of the rice industry.  RA12078 was signed by President Marcos Jr. on December 9. RCEF programs include: seed distribution (of inbred and hybrid rice seeds); …

By Rose de la Cruz Beginning with imported rice, the departments of agriculture and trade and industry are studying setting a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) or price caps that would strike a balance between the cost of landing imported rice here and the interests of consumers. The DA said on Wednesday from rice, it would also study possible MSRP’s …

By Rose de la Cruz First, the Marcos administration clinched a five-year rice supply deal with Vietnam, now our top supplier of the staple, last January Next the Department of Agriculture negotiated for a rice deal with India and Cambodia and now with Pakistan, which it hopes to finalize by June next year. The message is clear:  the DA is …

Beyond EllipticalBy Rose Marie de la Cruz The legacy of agrarian reform– breaking down farms into smaller sizes of initially 3 to 5 hectares– have forced farmers to sell or pawn their landholdings as they found farming to be not viable and unsustainable. In worse times, like previous decades, they offered their small landholdings to land conversion for easy cash, …

The bangus industry is grappling with several challenges that have prevented it from achieving its full potential. University of Asia and Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA) Agribusiness Specialist Joy Kristel Orzales said one of the main issues confronting the sector is its continued reliance on imported fry, Business Mirror noted. Orzales noted that high dependence on imported fry tends …

The massive destruction caused by recent typhoons on corn farms of the country and the high cost of production would necessitate higher imports of corn for animal feeds  by 7.2 percent or 1.63 million metric tons for 2024-2025, according to the USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila. The USDA also sees corn production only growing by 0.4 percent to 8.15 MMT …

Blame it on high rice prices– both local and imports– Pinoys are now shifting to bread and noodles for their regular diet. The Philippines is expected to import more wheat in the 2024-2025 marketing year as the demand for various products such as bread, cakes and noodles increased along with population growth, said the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural …

By Rose de la Cruz The idea of removing labels like imported rice and premium or special tags in rice sold in all markets is just an affirmation of the lingering colonial mindset of Filipinos when buying products like food, specifically rice as it gives them an image of being well-off than the rest of the hoi polo in their …

By Rose de la Cruz The massive destruction caused by recent typhoons on corn farms of the country and the high cost of production would necessitate higher imports of corn for animal feeds of by 7.2 percent or 1.63 million metric tons for 2024-2025, according to the USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila. The USDA also sees corn production only growing …