Sweeping immigration legislation taking shape in the Senate will aim to overhaul the nation’s agriculture worker program to create a steady supply of labor for farmers and growers, who rely more than any other industry on workers who have come to the country illegally.
The provincial government of Davao Oriental and the World Food Program (WFP) have started briefing farmers on the cash-for-work program, in an effort to cover initially 800 hectares of rice farms in Cateel, Baganga and Boston municipalities.
The Senate committee on agriculture has asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the proliferation of dummy firms that reportedly conduct business with the National Food Authority to corner rice importation permits.
President Benigno Aquino III will promote mining, energy, tourism, textiles, and agriculture as sectors to invest in during the 9th Asia Europe Meeting in the Latioan capital, where he will declare the country “open for business.”
The Philippines is looking at Croatia as a gateway for exporting bananas, pineapples, coconut and mangoes to the Balkan region, among other places.
Small fisherfolk organizations from 15 countries deplore the massive marginalization of small-scale fishing and are calling for the overhaul of international and national policies on fishing.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has expressed concern over the unscrupulous use of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) import permits to provide legal cover for smuggled rice that find their way to the country’s ports.
If the investment plan of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) pushes through, the world may soon be awash in coconut water, virgin coconut oil and other coconut byproducts, including chips, jam, vinegar, frozen coco meat, liquid coco milk, coconut milk powder, macapuno, coco liquor, coco coir and coconut handicraft.
When he introduced his novel rice production method to Cambodian farmers more than a decade ago, Yang Saing Koma had to battle skeptics who laughed at his idea. How could less irrigation and shallower planting result in higher yield?
University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) professor emeritus Romulo Davide, 78, never fails to amaze people with his wit and passion to help poor farmers.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Romulo Davide, 78, was in Siquijor on July 26 to prepare for the graduation of 300 beneficiaries of the Farmer Scientists Training Program (FSTP) when he received the good news.
Some lawmakers believe the government’s decision to lower its rice-import quota this year may have spurred the smuggling of this staple into the domestic market.
