The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) will distribute drought-tolerant and submergence-tolerant rice varieties to Visayas farmers to boost rice production in the central Philippine region, an official said on Tuesday.

Cielo Luz Mondejar, PhilRice-Negros research and development coordinator, said the farmers will also be exposed to new technologies in rice farming, apart from the climate-ready rice varieties that they can get from the agency.

Mondejar revealed that the new rice varieties can withstand the rainy season, typhoons, and even dry spells.

“We have climate-ready varieties of rice and technologies geared towards producing early maturing varieties that have a characteristic where we can harvest before a typhoon or drought strikes,” she said in a forum.

PhilRice-Negros aims to expand its services by providing projects in the Central Visayas region, Mondejar said.

She admitted that farmers in Central Visayas are getting fewer.

Mondejar said the new branch director, Ommal Abdulkadil, wants their services and programs to be felt in Central Visayas.

By 2025, she said the agency’s target is to grant projects to the region, particularly the province of Bohol, by partnering with the farmers’ associations to scale up their capability to cope with the new technology to boost rice harvest.

Mondejar said a techno demo farm will be built in Bohol where new farming technologies and their adoption will be taught to the farmers.

“Our problem now is that the average age of the farmers in the Visayas is 57 years old. That’s why we need to train a new set of minds who could adopt new technologies for rice production,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

She added information regarding new technology in rice production could be read through the Palay App and Palay Check. (PNA)