Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Few Filipino brands could ever reach the same iconic status as Manny Pacquiao, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, or a jeepney. But, without a doubt, a red and yellow bee promising Yumburgers and Chickenjoy has been the provisional ambassador for our country’s cuisine to the rest of the world. It took Jollibee only four decades to grow from a tiny mom-and-pop ice… Read more

MANILA, Philippines - Six companies from Southeast Asia will likely supply the 250,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as part of the planned government to private sector (G2P) importation scheme to boost the country’s dwindling buffer stock. During the bidding conducted yesterday, state-run National Food Authority (NFA) announced that four companies from Vietnam, one from Singapore and one… Read more

MANILA, Philippines — The government is set to import a total of 250 thousand metric tons of rice amounting to P5.6 billion. The National Food Authority (NFA) has now opened the bidding process to private exporters here and abroad because the NFA council has  approved the “government to private” importation scheme. Common foreign bidders include Thailand, Vietnam… Read more

PhilRice’s food scientists found that lees, a residue from tapuy (Philippine rice wine), is an alternative nutrient-rich ingredient to baked food products. In a study by Rosaly Manaois and Amelia Morales, results showed that rice wine lees significantly improves the protein and dietary fiber content of brownies, a popular Filipino snack food. This finding comes from the… Read more

A PhilRice study found that unpolished pigmented rice (red or black rice) has high phytochemical contents and health-promoting properties making it a healthier alternative to white rice. In the study titled Healthier red and black rice: Not your ordinary staple food, 45 red rice and 25 black rice varieties collected from various provinces in the country were compared with white rice… Read more

AGRICULTURE officials of Thailand have expressed willingness to help the Philippines improve its food safety program through more benchmarking activities. Sanchai Tontyaporn, advisor to the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards of Thailand, said the bid to boost food safety should start with good agricultural practices (GAP). Tontyaporn spoke about the Thai government's… Read more

DAVAO Region is generally an agriculture-based economy but the region's agriculture sector has been growing slowly in the past couple of years. "While Davao Region’s economy is largely agriculture-based, the growth of its Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (AFF) remained to be the slowest among the sectors and its farmers and fishermen remained to be the poorest among the basic sectors,"… Read more

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture is blacklisting 43 garlic importers over the resurgence of an alleged cartel on the commodity that has prompted a spike in local prices. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol will issue an administrative order that will ban 43 importers who were supposed to bring in a total of 70,000 metric tons (MT) of garlic for the first six… Read more

MANILA, Philippines - A study conducted in Region XII, particularly in North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Maguindanao, shows that applying good agricultural practices (GAP) reduces pests and diseases of Lakatan and Cardaba.  The study, “Enhanced productivity of Lakatan and Saba/Cardaba in Region 12,” was realized through the collaboration of the University of Southern Mindanao… Read more

MANILA, Philippines - Considered a high-value crop and major agricultural produce in the Cordilleras, annual demand for potato in the country is about 745,000 metric tons. With the increasing number of fastfood chains in the country, meeting the country’s requirement for processing varieties is a great challenge for our potato stakeholders. The Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and… Read more