Initiative launched to get youth to plant rice

AMID a decline in the number of young Filipinos becoming rice farmers, the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) has launched new initiatives to spark interest in agriculture among students.

By involving the youth ages 10 to 12 in planting the institute's rice paddy art this wet season and by establishing a new compact site called RiceSpark, Karen Eloisa Barroga, DA-PhilRice deputy executive director for development, emphasized the importance of engaging the younger generation in agriculture, noting that the average age of Filipino farmers is 56 years as shown by the institute's Ricelytics.