LAGAWE, Ifugao - The commercial production of various native varieties of rice in the different provinces in the region over the past several years have not only helped in the uphill bid to preserve the century-old deteriorating rice terraces in Ifugao, Mountain Province, and some parts of Kalinga but also brought sufficient income to the farmers in the different communities producing the different rice varieties.
Agriculture stakeholders from the different native rice-producing provinces in the region lauded the Regional Development Council (RDC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for encouraging thousands of farmers in the hinterlands of CAR to slowly go back to the traditional way of farming for the sake of producing rice that is of better and export quality to significantly augment their meagre income.
The lucrative native rice production has reportedly attracted individuals who have abandoned their farms in the countryside for greener pasture have gone back to their places and started tilling their fields because of the substantial income from native rice varieties being widely raised in their respective places. Heirloom rice commands a much higher buying price in the world market at $5 to $10 per kilo because of the trend nowadays whereby products are now being raised organically and that chemical-based farming is no longer being preferred. In this province, the growing demand of the ''tinawon'' glutinous rice in the United States has empowered more farmers to restore anew some of the damaged portions of the world famous Ifugao Rice Terraces to earn more income for their families. (Dexter A. See)
