To bolster the rice industry and directly support local farmers of Kalinga, a training on inbred rice seed production and certification for potential seed growers was conducted. The training took place at Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga with 20 participants on July 17-21, 2023.
The training aims to enhance technical capabilities of potential seed growers and to help ensure the availability of quality rice seeds in CAR. Also, it enabled the participants to enhance their knowledge and skills on production of high-quality inbred rice seed thereby increasing productivity and profitability.
Through the training, participants were instilled with the right mindset and dedication towards sustainable agricultural practices and the significance of seed quality for the community's success. Participants were familiarized with the objectives of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) and its direct relevance to their roles as potential seed growers.
Participants learned about the process of inspecting and certifying rice seeds to ensure that the distributed seeds are high quality. Additionally, traditional, and modern agricultural practices for optimizing inbred rice seed production were shared, and participants were equipped with fundamental financial knowledge and marketing strategies to support their seed production enterprises.
To reinforce their learnings on some of the discussion, participants were enabled to do hands-on exercises and field work such germination test, purity test, rouging and tagging.
The basic training served as their entry point since it is the pre-requisite to becoming a certified inbred rice seed grower and producer. Thus, after the training, participants are expected to process their requirements and be accredited as seed grower in their respective provinces.
