IRRI Affirms Strong Partnership for PH Rice Sector’s Future at DA-PhilRice 40th Anniversary
03 December 2025, Philippines: The International Rice Research Institute recently joined the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute’s (DA-PhilRice) in celebrating its 40th founding anniversary. The event was also marked by the 37th Ugnay Palay Research for Development (R4D) Conference, highlighting decades of collaboration in advancing Philippine rice research.
The milestone event gathered scientists, farmers, youth, policymakers, and the private sector to reflect on DA-PhilRice’s progress under the theme “40 Years of Rice Innovations: Sowing Progress, Harvesting Prosperity.”
A partnership rooted in history
During the plenary session “PhilRice@40: Milestones, Insights, and Future Commitments,” the PhilRice founding Executive Director Dr. Santiago R. Obien recalled IRRI’s crucial role in the creation of the Philippines’ national rice research center.
“IRRI and UPLB were there in establishing PhilRice,” Dr. Obien said, noting how early collaboration brought leading scientists, including retired IRRI experts, into PhilRice’s first research leadership team.
Building on this strong foundation, Dr. Obien also highlighted the importance of continuing this partnership to strengthen PhilRice’s branch stations over the next decade and ensure that farmers receive timely training and access to available technologies. “Build stronger partnerships with SUCs (state universities and colleges), RFOs
Partners from developing to delivering rice innovations
Speaking at the panel, “Partners in Progress: The External View of PhilRice’s Journey,” IRRI Senior Scientist Dr. Madonna Casimero, representing the institute, echoed Dr. Obien’s sentiment on the importance of deeper collaboration and shared innovation platforms.
“To reach impact at scale, we have to maintain and sustain a very strong national alliance. The national rice research ecosystem must strengthen data-sharing and integrate complementary institutional strengths,” she said.
Dr. Casimero also noted that many innovations remain siloed. “If we pull our resources together—PhilRice’s ground data, SUCs’ manpower, and IRRI’s analytics and global expertise—we can build a powerful rice intelligence system,” she explained.
She added that converging of long-term data assets available from various institutions can help understand the difference in farmers’ adoption capacities, productivity drivers, and the diversity of the country’s rice ecosystem to provide insights essential for tailoring innovations to meet the specific needs of different farmers.
IRRI also participated in the Climate-Smart and Resilient Rice Farming session. Ms. Rowena Castillo, IRRI Manager for Project Development and Deployment, presented Climate+, a digital advisory tool that delivers weather-informed, farmer-friendly recommendations on crop and nutrient management tailored to specific fields.
Climate+ helps farmers adapt to climate change and mitigate its impact by linking the Rice Crop Manager Advisory Service (RCMAS) and the Agro-Climatic Advisory Portal (ACAP)-Bicol, which uses climate information services from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PAGASA).
It was co-developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), DA-PhilRice, and IRRI under the CGIAR Climate Resilience initiative and continued under the Climate Action Science Program.
Supporting Philippine rice at the global stage
The celebration also highlighted the international success of ‘Dinorado,’ more popularly known as ‘Mabango’ rice variety, developed by DA-PhilRice in 2009, which won silver at the World Rice Conference 2025 in Cambodia. Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders Movement (Prism) founder Rowena Sadicon highlighted Prism’s push for clustered farming as a strategy to enhance farmer competitiveness and strengthen the rice value chain and acknowledged partners and supporters, including IRRI.
Leveraging shared strengths for the future of rice farming
As PhilRice enters its next chapter, IRRI will continue to be its partner in delivering science-based solutions, from developing climate-resilient rice varieties and co-designing digital agriculture tools to promoting sustainable value chains and honing the next generation of rice scientists in the country.
“Our partnership remains strong in addressing the pressing needs of our farmers, and in this framing of [IRRI’s] five-year strategy, we’re looking at the continuing development of a climate-resilient rice-based agri-food systems, transformative rice variety development and seed systems, digital agriculture, sustainable circular and low-emission rice value chains, and capacity development and innovation ecosystems development for scaling,” Dr. Casimero said. “On behalf of our institution, we are your partners—your staunch partner in rice R&D here in the Philippines,” she emphasized.
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