Two farm-to-market road projects of the Philippine Department of Agriculture in Ifugao Province is expected to benefit over 5,000 farmers and revive heirloom rice production in several towns.
The completion of the projects is seen as a solution to the farmers’ limited access to markets and could reinvigorate dwindling heirloom rice production in these areas.
The rice terraces where heirloom rice are cultivated were declared a heritage site by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
Read the story at Philippine News Agency
More on Philippine’s heirloom rice
Productivity and profitability of aromatic rice production in the Philippines
The aromatic rice sector has great potential for industry expansion. This potential is important to be explored especially in the current Philippine agriculture setting. The current local aromatic rice industry has opportunities for import substitution. Local farmers must be empowered to increase local production in response to the increasing demand for aromatic rice and to the ramifications of the Rice Tariffication Law.
Conserving and increasing productivity and value of the heirloom rice in the Philippine Cordillera
As we conclude the two phases of the Heirloom Rice Project (HRP): Raising Productivity and Enriching the Legacy of Heirloom Rice through Empowering Communities in Unfavorable Rice-Based Ecosystems (2014 to 2016) and Conserving and Increasing Productivity and Value of Heirloom Rice in the Cordillera (2017 to 2020), we review some of the accomplishments delivered by the team.
The Heirloom Rice Project
The Heirloom Rice Project is an initiative under the Food Staples Sufficiency Program of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA). With support from the various agencies of the DA and the International Rice Research Institute, this collaborative project aims to enhance the productivity and enrich the legacy of heirloom or traditional rice through empowered communities in unfavorable rice-based ecosystems. It holds the promise of becoming a remarkable endeavor for culturally rich communities in isolated regions of the world, particularly the hinterlands of Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
