Philippine Rice Research Institute
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The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is the Philippines' only rice institute. It plays a key role in building and sustaining a competitive rice economy through research into such things as farming systems, technology, and policy-making. Their credo is "Technology today, food for tomorrow."
Philrice began as a research unit of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB) in 1985 until it became an independent Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation. Its headquarters was subsequently moved from UPLB to Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.
On September 28, 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave PhilRice a 800,000-dollar grant for biotechnology research into rice with higher beta-carotene, vitamin E, iron, and protein amounts to aiding micronutrient deficiency in Third World countries like the Philippines. Dr. Rhodora R. Aldemita and the University of Freiburg which heads the Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health Program, has matched the Gates Foundation's grant with funding into PhilRice's biotech laboratories, a radioisotope laboratory, and screenhouses for testing the modified rice.