KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

This Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)is entered into and executed by and between:

The DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE , a government agency of the Philippines with office address at Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City, represented herein by its Secretary, ATTY. ARTHUR C. YAP , hereinafter referred to as."DA";

The INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE , an international, nonprofit research and training organization, with principal office at Los Bafios, Laguna, represented herein by its Director General, DR. ROBERT S. ZEIGLER , hereinafter referred to as "IRRI";

WHEREAS, DA is the principal agency of the Philippine government mandated to develop the agriculture and fisheries sector and responsible for the promotion of agricultural development growth;

WHEREAS, IRRI, a nonprofit international organization supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) , has the primary goal of increasing the quantity and quality of rice produced through research and training in aspects of rice production, including rice-based farming systems, and through scientific and technical cooperation with national programs;

WHEREAS, the Philippines is confronted with many challenges as brought by global food crisis, and as such the DA should provide policy framework and help redirect public investments that will make the country become self-reliant and self-sufficient in rice;

WHEREAS, as a response to ensuring the Philippines' self-sufficiency in rice, the DA drafted its "Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan" that focuses on increasing provincial productivity, which aims to attain 100% rice self-sufficiency by 2010, improve rice productivity, and increase income of rice farmers;

WHEREAS, the DA and IRRI have a common objective in looking for ways to meet the future needs of the Philippines and agree that there is a need for a MOA under which detailed work plans can be developed and implemented;

NOW, THEREFORE, the DA and IRRI, in view of their common objectives, have reached a mutual understanding to enter into a cooperative agreement as set forth in the following terms:

As contained in the Philippines' Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan, the program will operate at the provincial and smaller scale-levels (such as clustered areas of 40 to 80 farmers or irrigators' associations) with geographic focus in 44 provinces for irrigated areas and 19 provinces for rainfed areas. It identified short- and long-term measures that will have impacts in 2008-2010 and beyond 2010 which the DA through PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute) and lRRI can specifically work closely together on.

The areas of collaboration are the following:

1. .Conducting strategic and nationwide assessment of the rice production potential of both current rice-growing areas and new areas that could be developed for rice growing using GIS, remote sensing, crop and climate modeling, among other techniques;

2. Accelerating the delivery of improved germplasm and crop management technologies, such as Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) , controlled irrigation (Cl), and post-harvest tools;

3. Accelerating the development and deployment of rice seeds through more speedy and efficient seed production systems, strengthened multi-location testing of promising lines, improved variety development and registration;

4. Capacity building through the use of modem information and communication technologies (lCTs), "training of trainors" programs, and tailoring of extension materials and approaches to local needs;

5. R&D on new cropping systems and rice technologies that can expand the current frontier, with geographic focus on the identified areas;

6. Long-term breeding by establishing a joint lRRI-PhilRice breeding program for developing the next generation of high-yielding rice varieties and hybrids;

7. Capacity building for a new generation of researchers and extension workers in the public and private sector; and

8. Sharing experiences in partnership and network building to bring different public and private sector players together in finding the right actors for the right technology in the right place.