THE “Brown Rice Processing Impeller Technology” was recently launched at the Philippine Rice Institute (PhilRice) in Murcia, Negros Occidental.
It was spearheaded by the Philippine Center for PostHarvest Mechanization and Development (PhilMech) in partnership with a farmer-organization in Murcia.
Prior to the launch, PhilMech conducted a two-day business planning workshop with RiceBIS farmers.
The discussion covered managerial, financial, organizational, technical, and economic aspects of business planning.
The technology will be the first rice-based enterprise of the organization where the farmers will consolidate a portion of their harvest and sell it to their cooperative to be processed as brown rice.
Farmers from Victorias City also became part of this project. They will assist Murcia farmers in marketing their product.
This venture is expected to be profitable with its 72 percent milling recovery.
It can mill both white and brown rice, depending on which switch you select.
However, more focus is given to brown rice as it is the banner product of this technology.
PhilRice Negros’ RiceBIS Community Project Team formed the farmer-organization.
This is in line with the project’s objective of increasing farmers’ income and linking them to business development service providers.
On the other hand, PhilRice is also assisting the indigenous people (IP) in Sarangani to protect their traditional rice varieties (TRVs).
As Sarangani is one of the areas that are most vulnerable to drought, preserving the seeds is important in breeding new climate-change ready seeds for the area.
The B’laan, Tagakaolo, T’boli, Manobo, Ubo, and Kalagan tribes live in the upland areas where most TVRs are planted.
Initially, the locals and PhilRice’s Genetic Resources team will collect, conserve, survey, and document the varieties under the project “Conservation of Sarangani Traditional Rice Germplasm (SaTRice).”
The team will also evaluate the grain quality, level of resistance to pest and diseases, and level of tolerance to drought or submergence stress.
The farmers noted the TRVs resistance to pests and drought, which can also produce good yield even without fertilizer and pesticide intervention.
Since there are no records of germplasm collection at the PhilRice Genebank, there will be an initiative to identify and test the TRVs which will used and recommended to be the best variety suited for the province.
Germplasm are genetic materials used for breeding new rice varieties.
The high quality TRVs will then be stored at PhilRice Genebank, which houses more than 5,000 Philippine TRVs and more than 16,000 germplasm collections.
Based on the study conducted by Mindanao State University-GenSan, 107 TRVs with unique traits were identified in the area.
Comprehensive data on morphological and molecular profiles of TRVs are expected to be gathered specifically those that pertain to size, shape, and structure of seed components.
Farmers, mostly IPs, can also utilize these data in adding value/price to their varieties if they decided to commercialize it.
Other than conservation and characterization, the project also aims to establish and strengthen community-based seed banks for IP communities in partnership with the provincial government of Sarangani and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
