An emerging crop in the agricultural landscape of the Cordilleras is the heirloom rice. Considered as a special one, this traditional rice has over a hundred varieties in the region. A recent encounter with farmers and agriculturists from Bauko, Mtn. Province gives a glimpse of the current situation of the rice industry in the municipality.
The market for heirloom and brown rice in Bauko has been steadily increasing in past years. Locals and DA employees are the primary supporters, with buyers coming from outside of the region too. Bauko’s heirloom rice, the balatinao or pinpinta, is a crowd favorite.
Pastora Gomgom-o, Demetria Agluya, Juliet Adaclog, and Michael Compas, farmers from RTFC Otucan Norte Chapter, shared their experiences regarding rice farming. When asked if they had a chance to choose what to plant between commercial or heirloom rice, they would go for the commercial variety due to the profit. However, they won’t stop planting balatinao rice because this would mean they won’t have a source for making rice wine. This reflects their culture and how deeply embedded the variety is in their daily lives.
Although commercial rice sales are still relatively higher compared to that of balatinao and brown rice, the increase in demand for the healthier varieties is big that the supply can’t accommodated. In a month, about 8-10 cavans of balatinao rice are sold, at 50kg per cavan.
In 2014, the Department of Agriculture gave a customized rice mill to the municipality for milling brown rice. The machine is a big help in the production of brown rice in Bauko with about 300 beneficiaries. But this is not enough to support the demand. According to Ely Rose Payacda, Agriculturist II at Bauko, more specialized milling machines are needed as support. By having more of these, the labor cost can be lowered and the price of brown rice will also go down. The municipality is awaiting delivery of one customized rice mill from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Melanie Lagasca, Municipal Rice Coordinator at Bauko, mentioned that the information and education campaign (IEC) materials and the heirloom rice project boosted the marketing of brown rice. Most of their customers are the ones informed of the health benefits of eating this kind of rice. Even though balatinao is more expensive than commercial rice, at Php 90-95/kg, the benefits still outweigh the cost so customers still buy it.
The growing presence of heirloom rice is giving light to the people about its goodness specially with respect to health. It is also opening up opportunities to farmers to promote not only their products but also their culture ingrained with it.**Ayra G. Galanza
