August 16, 2021. The Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (BAFS) of the Department of Agriculture conducted a two-day webinar titled “Yun PALAYun!” on August 11-12, 2021. The webinar aims to raise awareness on the food safety- and quality-related Philippine National Standards (PNS) related to rice. Also, as support to the celebration of the National Indigenous Peoples Day, the Bureau included a special topic on heirloom rice varieties (HRVs).
With this, BAFS invited speakers from the members of the PNS Technical Working Groups related to rice and other experts from National Food Authority (NFA), University of the Philippines Los Baños - Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center (UPLB-AMTEC), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). This webinar series covers food safety, quality, agricultural machinery, and the significant historical, cultural, aesthetic, and economic values of HRVs.
On the first day of the webinar, Mr. Rolando Gomez, former Division Chief of NFA - Technical Research and Services Department, discussed the food safety standards, particularly the PNS/BAFS 141:2019 Code of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for Rice which covers the production, harvesting, and on-farm post-harvest handling and storage of rice. Likewise, he presented the PNS/BAFS 193:2017 Good Warehousing Practices (GWP) for Bagged Grains highlighting the appropriate handling, storage and transport of bagged grains, and the PNS/BAFS 290:2019 Grains - Paddy and Milled Rice - Grading and Classification, which covers the recommended product specifications, packaging, and labeling of paddy and milled rice sold in local and international markets.
On the second day, resource speakers from UPLB-AMTEC, Engr. Ray D. Alipio and Engr. Mary Christine Agoncillo discussed the quality standards related to rice, focusing on the specifications and methods of test of the post-harvest machinery, namely the PNS/BAFS PABES 283:2019 and PNS/BAFS PABES 284:2019 for Brown Rice Stabilizer, and PNS/BAFS PABES 303:2020 and PNS/BAFS PABES 304:202 for Rice Mill.
For the special topic on HRV, experts from IRRI, Dr. Casiana Vera Cruz and Engineer Joseph Sandro and PhilRice, Dr. Marissa Romero, shared their knowledge and experience on the HRV value and heritage preservation, quality and nutrition, and the postharvest interventions of the Heirloom Rice Project.
After each lecture, participants were given the opportunity to ask questions to the Resource Speakers on the topic(s) presented. Short quizzes via menti.com were also given to make the discussion interactive and refresh the live viewers from the topics previously discussed.
This webinar is part of the series of Learning and Development activities showcasing PNS in the agriculture and fishery sector. Check the BAFS Facebook page for upcoming webinar schedules. ###