With the upcoming implementation of the Republic Act No 11203 also known as the Rice Trade Liberalization Law, stakeholders from Mindanao gathered at The Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City on February 28, 2019 for a consultation regarding the provisions of the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol together with other DA top officials sat down with rice farmer leaders and other stakeholders who are expected to feel the effects of the law. “There is no law put into place to ruin our nation. They are created to improve the lives of our countrymen,” Piñol said. The agri chief assured the stakeholders that DA will always be present to assist them on the effects that may be brought by RA 11203. The Mindanao consultation is is the third leg of the series of consultations conducted across the country. The first leg was conducted on February 26 at the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija for the Northern Luzon Cluster while the second leg was held at the Southern Tagalog Integrated Agricultural Research Center (STIARC) in Marauoy, Lipa, Batangas. The fourth leg of the consultation for the Visayas cluster will be conducted in Iloilo on March 1, 2019. ### (Photo by Alan Jay Jacalan, DA-AFID)