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Thursday, June 10, 2010

ADB-IRRI Postharvest Project Planning Meeting conducted

by Trina Leah Mendoza

Partners of the IRRI-ADB Philippine Postharvest Project from different provinces in the Philippines and the Philippine Rice Research Institute, as a key project partner, recently conducted the ADB-IRRI Postharvest Project Planning Meeting last June 1 and 2, 2010 at the Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte.
The 2-day meeting aimed to update partners on the project’s current activities at IRRI and in pilot provinces, plan and agree on activities targeted for the next 18 months, brief partners on steps to creating a business model, and introduce adaptive research and pilot study protocols to partners.

Fifteen partners from key institutions in the three pilot sites of Camarines Sur, Bohol, and Agusan del Norte attended and reported on their progress on participatory hermetic storage verification.

Updates on the activities on hermetic storage were presented. Wilson Orino, program officer of Caritas Diocese of Libmanan, Camarines Sur also provided the results of their adaptive trials. Dr. Caesar Tado, co-project leader from PhilRice, reported on the adaption of mechanical dryers, particularly the new reversible dryers. IRRI anthropologist Rica Flor discussed updates on what the postharvest learning alliance in the Philippines has done. 


A lecture on Business models development was also done with group exercises facilitated by Alfred Schmidley and Rica Flor. The meeting concluded with each pilot site having their set of work plans which will be a jump off point for the 2011 project implementation strategies.