Education system boosts knowledge on rice farming

THE Sagot ko ang magulang ko or Infomediary Campaign, an initiative led by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) that aims to mobilize youth to be agriculture infomediaries, has stepped-up its activities with the inclusion of climate change module in the country’s technical-vocational curriculum.

Jaime A. Manalo IV, campaign lead, said the module will be incorporated in the curriculum of 81 technical-vocational schools nationwide.

“This June, PhilRice will train the teachers on rice farming technologies useful in climate change adaptation and mitigation. We hope that this will enhance the bulk and quality of information, which they will give to the students. In turn, their students may share the practices to their farmer-parents,” he said.

Meanwhile, more than 20 agriculture graduates from state colleges and universities in Region 3 had advanced their knowledge and skills through the recent PhilRice’s boot camp on rice science.

The 10-day training course included practical know-how and knowledge, participatory lecture-discussions, field practicum, village immersion, and division on-the-job trainings.

Val C. Garcia, training coordinator, said that the new agriculture and agriculturerelated graduates tried land preparation, seedbed preparation, seed soaking and sowing, soil sampling using Minus-one Element Technique (MOET), and crop establishment through manual and mechanical transplanting.

“After a month, we will assess the knowledge gained by the graduate-participants,” Garcia added. PHILRICE