Earlier this year, Dr. Julian Gonsalves, Senior Asia Program Advisor at the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), invited me to visit Guinayangan, Quezon, one of their partner municipalities. I was given a tour of the different programs IIRR conducts in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local government (LGU), which I will be writing about in the next few weeks.

One of these is the Agroecology-based Rice Farming Project (ABRF), which began in November 2025. It is a DA national scaling program that, in this case, is funded by the DA Region IV-A, and IIRR is co-implementing. It encourages farmers to plant heirloom rice. They are easier to cultivate, and they command a higher price, selling for ₱80-100 a kilo versus ₱45-50 for white rice.

Our first stop was Barangay Bukal Maligaya, where we spoke to rice farmers Ryan Sarcino, who cultivates the barangay’s Mother Trial Site; farmer association president Jonathan Siasa; and Ramon Flor. The whole interview was conducted in Tagalog.

Each barangay has a cluster of around six farmers who have dedicated a small part of their fields to growing jasmine and red dinorado rice, with the rest still planted to hybrid rice varieties from the DA, including Yuan Longping, Mabango 3, and Tubigan 36. The fields are rain-fed and harvested twice a year.

Some barangays, like Bukal Maligaya, also have a Mother Trial Site where as many as seven varieties of heirloom rice are grown. Sarcino currently grows three varieties, but is set to plant more at the next cropping season.

“The farmers try different varieties and assess which ones perform best,” Acer Arana, IIRR field extension technician, said. “We have two target varieties per cluster. During their Farmers’ Field Day, farmers from different clusters compare results. They can request seeds from us if they want to try new varieties.”

The heirloom rice is planted using System of Rice Intensification (SRI), at two to three seedlings per plant, with around 30 cm of space in between, much wider than usual. “The wider the space, the more the sunlight, the deeper the roots, then the plant is robust. More tillers and more fruit,” Dr. Gonsalves explained. “The theory is heirloom rice with SRI [will yield] the highest production.”

Guinayangan farmers farm an average of ½ to one hectare, ideal for SRI. “If you have very big land, then you broadcast the seed. If you have small land… You can do heirloom rice. If you combine heirloom rice with SRI, you will get double the yield, which a big farmer of five hectares cannot do because it’s labor-intensive,” he added. “We are hoping that Guinayangan will be a model for all of Quezon. This is rain-fed, partly irrigated. You have rain for six to seven months a year.”

Ryan mused that water could be a challenge, and if they were fully irrigated, they would be able to harvest three times a year. He also hopes that in the future, they can receive more than the one kilo of heirloom rice seeds allotted per farmer.

At the time of the interview, the farmers said they didn’t plant anything in between harvests so the soil could rest. “Our priority is palay,” Ryan said. “Many people ask why we don’t plant munggo, but sometimes we have no time because there are a lot of things to take care of.”

Coincidentally, IIRR had brought munggo (Pag-Asa 7 variety) from PhilRICE for seed production. The resulting seeds can be sown three days before the rice is harvested to help increase soil quality in between planting seasons.

The farmers shared their experiences with the new varieties. Jonathan said that his rice grew well, but was washed away by a flood before he could harvest. Ramon said he had difficulty growing jasmine rice at first, but hopes that the new techniques he’s trying will pay off during the next harvest, which ended in April. Ryan said that saltwater was slowly seeping into his fields. He only managed to harvest 190 balde (basin), the unit they use to measure rice.

They plan to sell their harvests within the municipality, as it is in demand by health-conscious locals. The farmers are members of cooperatives, which will be in charge of consolidating the harvests for sale. There are plans to sell them in the local pasalubong center as well.

“What I like most about being a farmer is being able to earn money,” Ramon said.

“Some people think farming is hard, which is true, but it’s also fun,” Jonathan said. “Visiting our fields makes us happy because we can see how well our crops are growing. There’s always hope.”