Gov’t says rice variety to boost nutritional food value intake of Filipinos
(Eagle News)–The International Rice Research Institute has developed a low glycemic index (GI), protein-enriched rice variety the government said will boost the nutritional food value intake of every Filipino.
The Presidential Communications Office said this was revealed to President Bongbong Marcos during a recent courtesy call of officials of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and IRRI in Malacañang.
The IRRI established during the time of then-President Ferdinand Marcos, is under the CGIAR, a global network of 15 research centers that generate and disseminate knowledge, technologies, and policies for agricultural development through close collaboration with partner organizations, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector.
The President, the PCO said, lauded the IRRI for its achievement.
“It’s no longer just food sufficiency. There should be nutritional value given to the people. There’s very much that we could learn from (you). IRRI has been actually continuing the research and development and when we went I could see some of their rice is made not for the Philippines alone, the varieties are going all over the world,” he said.
The PCO said IRRI officials offered to develop more varieties of rice and other agricultural produce for local consumption.
The President, the PCO said, consented, noting that “those are the kinds of things that we need.”
“It’s beyond (the issue of) food and rice in Asian countries. So, again, that just brings into very sharp focus how important (rice) is to us. But the other side of it is the nutrition side because of course, we cannot eat just rice. So, there has to be a source of vegetable, and protein. So that’s why we are now trying to find the [solution],” he added.