SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ (PIA) — The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is encouraging farmers to start businesses through its Rice Business Innovations System (RiceBIS) 2.0 Program.
Program lead Diadem Gonzales-Esmero said the RiceBIS 2.0 aims to change the mindset of farmers from mere rice producers to an entrepreneurial group.
“It will also help farmers consolidate or group together to increase their bargaining power in the market,” Esmero added.
The program includes intensifying market linkages so that farmers can find institutional buyers, outlets, and partners to help them enhance their products and have a stable market.
It focuses on product innovation for farmers, which includes promoting Good Agricultural Practices to ensure that the product is safe for consumers, producers, and the environment.
In addition, RiceBIS 2.0 helps cooperatives develop other products from rice that can increase their income.
“We have a cooperative that has produced brown rice crispies and brown rice kropek that we are still enhancing to become possible sources of income for farmers,” Esmero said.
Through the RiceBIS program, a cooperative was assisted in linking their by-product, rice briquettes, to the market, which are sold in a restaurant as coal.
Esmero furthered that this initiative also brought farmers closer to government programs and other institutions that provide grants, machinery, and training programs.
To participate in PhilRice’s RiceBIS 2.0 Program, farmers must be organized groups such as associations or cooperatives with at least 50 hectares of covered area, a minimum operating capital of P500,000, and an endorsement from the local government.
In Nueva Ecija, four cooperatives are already part of the RiceBIS 2.0 Program, namely the Batitang Agriculture Cooperative, Pinagbuklod na Adhika Multipurpose Cooperative, and Ugat-Uhay Agriculture Cooperative from the town of Zaragoza, and Cama Juan Multipurpose Cooperative from San Antonio. (CLJD/CCN, PIA 3-Nueva Ecija)
