Reboot IRRI! Reboot PhilRice! Not The Institutions Themselves – Just Their Ignorance Or Ignoring Organic Agriculture And Climate Change!

Why are the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – both based in the Philippines – both ignoring Organic Agriculture (OA) and Climate Change (CC) simultaneously? As a graduate of UP Los Baños (1965), and blogger since 2000, I find that intellectually strange – why are they ignoring the human Goliath threat of CC?!

Notwithstanding, I just found a posted story by Charisma Love Gado-Gonzales, “Castle Of Competitive, Healthier Farmers And Consumers” (20 April 2021, PhilRice, philrice.gov.ph), saying Eleanor D Dominguez, Mayor of Castillejos, Zambales, is grateful for the assistance from the PhilRice initiative “RiceBis.” I find that the goal of the “Rice Business Innovations System Community” (RiceBis Community) is (philrice.gov.ph):

To create a pilot test development model for community transformation that is participatory, market-driven, and supported by a scientific production base to improve the competitiveness of rice-based farming communities.

Good! But not good enough – I can see that RiceBis would help farmers rise from poverty, but I cannot see how RiceBis can help farmers help defeat Climate Change and not exacerbate it with their chemical agriculture!

I cannot find an IRRI initiative that is similar to PhilRice’s RiceBis – nevertheless, both institutions are silent on Farmer Poverty and Climate Change and how Organic Agriculture can help solve the first and resolve the second.

Now then, it is a little embarrassing even for me but I would now like to refer both IRRI and PhilRice to a 5-year old report on “Organic Negros” via Gaby Novenario (11 May 2018, “How Negros Paved The Way For Organic Agriculture In The Philippines,” F&B Report, fnbreport.ph; webpage part of Inquirer)

To quote from the F&B story:

We couldn’t have done it on our own, says Ramon “Chin Chin” Uy Jr, founder of Fresh Start Organics and president of the Organic na Negros! Organic Producers and Retailers Association, on the organic movement of the Negros provinces.
(“Organic” from thehill.com)

It took the cooperation of the government, different stakeholders, and the consumers’ support of the organic movement for it to become successful. Had one of these [not been] in the mix, it wouldn’t have taken off.

Mr Uy Jr says:

Agritourism is a good way to promote organic farms. Negros has been the training center for farmers from all around the Philippines[;] and all around the island, there are training centers and tours that show these farmers what they can achieve. For many of them, seeing is believing. That was all it took.

The F&B story also says:

In 2013, the National Organic Agriculture Board [declared Batanes] as an organic [province]. There, farmers practice “traditional farming” but use organic methods for making fertilizers and pest control. A big project for the DA is assisting Vuhus Island in Sabtang, Batanes in their efforts to meet international organic standards and eventually become exporters of Vuhus organic beef tapa.

Enough lessons for today from Negros. IRRI and PhilRice – you can each be a father and not mum on solving Farmer Poverty and resolving Climate Change simultaneously!@517