BEHIND THE PLOW: Upland rice to the rescue

MALUNGON, Sarangani (MindaNews / 25 August) – The Philippine’s total paddy rice production meets only 85% of the country’s requirement of 16.5 million metric tons (2024).  Shortfall will be covered by importing 3.9 million metric tons.

Low yield of 4.1 tons per hectare of paddy rice, compared to Vietnam’s 6 tons per hectare contributes to this shortfall. Why? That is another story in another time.

This piece focuses on the potentials of upland rice in reducing our shortfall.

For hundreds of years the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and upland farmers all over the country have been growing upland rice in mountain and hilly farms.  And there was plenty of rice all throughout the year and more.

There is very little attention given by government to the production of upland rice.  There are some small experiments in Mindanao: in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Sarangani and Bukidnon. 

At the moment it is estimated that upland rice production contributes only 5% to total national production volume. There is not even a study on how many millions of hectares are suitable for upland rice production.

Upland rice traditionally has a lower yield of around two metric tons per hectare. That being so, even if the area devoted to upland rice is only 1/3 of the 4.8 million hectares of paddy rice, that will add 2,880,000 metric tons to the country’s annual rice production.     

That volume will drastically reduce the importation of 3,900,000 metric tons from elsewhere. And Filipino farmers will make money, not farmers in other countries.

There are hundreds of upland rice varieties. Bukidnon has 142. Sarangani has 106. Davao City alone has 72. There is no listing for the BARMM. To mention just a few: hinumay, dinorado, tapol, pinili, mamintana, azucena, palawanon, mimis, TH 42, gurani.

So, what next?

To develop the upland rice industry, a bureau in the Department of Agriculture should be created to attend solely to its development. This bureau should be responsible for planning, research, provide funding and implement an upland rice development program. 

This bureau should not be limited to upland rice production but should encompass the whole supply chain and value chain of upland rice.  Very critical are post – harvest facilities, value-adding, transportation, market research and linkages.       

The Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and the lowland farmers have honed to perfection the production technology of upland rice across hundreds of years. Let us not tamper with that.

What government rice experts can do is improve or increase yield by selecting upland varieties with highest yield and most resilient to climate change. Crossbreed when necessary.

Upland price production has always been grown organically and naturally. We must keep it that way. These varieties are adapted to what nature provides for their growth.

The seed industry must not be allowed to dip their sticky fingers into the upland rice industry. They will surely start breeding varieties, dependent on synthetic fertilizers and chemicals that a farmer can plant only once. After the cropping season the poor farmer has to buy new seed grains, always expensive and beyond his reach. The farmers must only grow open pollinated varieties (OPV) that will allow them to plant grains from their harvest again and again.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Edmundo Y. Cejar  is a regenerative farming practitioner and a natural reforestation advocate. Before shifting to farming, he worked for Dutch Philips Discrete Semiconductors, Gillete, Union Carbide and Davao Fruits).