Category: Uncategorized

Metering Device

After the meetings two weeks ago, I received a CAD file for a metering device designed by Agricomponents. After some adjustments the first version was ready for printing. The print was estimated to take 20 hours in build time but surprisingly it printed in 18 hours. This was an overnight job so I had to […]


Goat innards or pig intestine.?

Having travelled to Isabela with 2 Filipinos I was lucky (or unlucky) to taste some Filipino food. “Interesting” would be the word to describe these foods. Surprisingly the pig intestines aka Chicharon Bulaklak were good. It was served with a vinegar and onion dip and was very “chewy”. However, the goat innards were a different story. Certainly […]


Visit to Isabela region

Tuesday morning at 4:30 am was the start of a long journey. We had organised meetings with Agricomponent, Phil Rice, Phil Mech, and some agricultural manufacturers affiliated with IRRI. The evening before I prepared the bag and had a quick glimpse on google maps to see how far we actually had to go. 470km’s of a spin […]


Botanical Gardens

On Sunday a group of us took a hike to the botanical gardens in the nearby Makiling forest reserve. Essentially a heavily forested area at the base of  Mt Makiling, we trekked through the botanical gardens for about 2 hours. It was a relatively easy trek but was surprised how big the gardens actually were. The […]


Rice Mechanisation Outputs

As I’m here at IRRI doing a baseline study on 3D printing of spare parts for mechanisation I came up with an interesting idea a few months ago. How much yield loss can be associated with break downs and failures of mechanisation? Seeing as it’s IRRI, who are my host organisation, I decided to concentrate on rice mechanisation and rice yield losses. In […]


Puerto Galera

Another long weekend with the second of three national holidays here in the Philippines. This time it was a regional holiday, one for Laguna where IRRI is based. A trip was booked to go to Puerto Galera a beach resort about four hours away. A three hour drive by bus and one hour across the bay from Batangas to […]


Questionnaire and Data Collection

Late last week, a meeting was held with IRRI staff in the postharvest and mechanisation unit. Several talking points were raised that didn’t wholly relate to me but we spoke about some plans for my project work here. The plan is to speak to local workshops and get their views on the idea of 3D […]


Visit to Lake Taal

Just off the end of a long weekend here in the Philippines where the country celebrated its independence from Spain in 1898. Held on the 12th of June each year, parades and public events celebrate independence after this national day began in 1962. As a treat and of course being a long weekend, we left Los Banos […]


IRRI: Background

IRRI is the world’s premier research organisation set up to reduce poverty and hunger through rice science. IRRI is an independent, non profit, educational institute set up in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations with government backing. The institute is headquartered in Los Banos, Philippines with 17 offices across Asia and Africa with 1,000 staff. […]


IRRI: Orientation

Orientation was first on the agenda. ID card and a quick tour around the campus was given. I also met some of the staff at the Postharvest and Mechanization section where I would be based throughout the next 2 months. I was shown the office and the 3D printer that I’d be using. One of […]