Save the Ifugao rice

terraces? Scholarships
are key
To entice the younger generation, the provincial government offers
scholarships in agro-fishery, forestry, and agriculture-related courses
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines Efforts to help save the world-renowned Ifugao
Rice Terraces from further degradation has shifted from subsidizing the repair
of ripraps and irrigation to offering free education to those who can help
preserve it.
In recent years, natural and man-made disasters and out-migration of natives
have led to the decimation of the landscape that has brought Ifugao fame and
fortune. To restore the rice terraces, the Department of Agriculture and the
provincial government have funneled over P30 million in projects to
rehabilitate it.
However, the repairs are seemingly not enough to preserve the integrity of the
landscape that has been declared the Eighth Wonder of the World, lamented
Governor Denis Habawel moments after his State of the Provincial Address
last August 5 in the Lagawe, the capital town.
To fill the gap, he said, young people should be given the opportunity to help
in reviving and maintaining the Ifugao Rice Terraces by offering them free
education. Most of them are busy pursuing careers and job opportunities not
inclined to help save their ancestral heritage, he said.

To entice the younger generation, the provincial government crafted

scholarships in agro-fishery, forestry and agriculture-related courses. This
does not only give opportunities for the less fortunate to earn higher education
but also helps increase the competencies of their own people, said Habawel.
In July, Ifugao entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Open
University of the University of the Philippines and the Sakuyama Maestre
Program of Kanazawa University of Japan to offer scholarships in a masters
program in terraces conservation.
With all school expenses paid for by the government, the Ifugao governor has
only one request to the beneficiaries: return home and apply the knowledge.
By empowering the people through education, Habawel hopes the centuriesold rice terraces, which their ancestors left as legacy, could continue for many
more centuries to come.
We are currently pursuing that (scholarships) and hopefully people will take
the opportunity and help Ifugao, their home, Habawel said.
Cultivating abandoned farms
Aside from providing education, the local government has also started
incorporating traditional practices in handling abandoned farms.
In the town of Banaue, the municipal government has institutionalized the
practice of chawa, which offers the field to any third party interested should the
owner have no intention of cultivating the fields anymore.
If the municipal agriculturists office is deemed abandoned, the LGU will take
charge of managing and using the fields at an indigenous way of sharing
between the owner.

We are trying to use indigenous practices to save our rice terraces because
they are vital to our economy and identity, Habawel said. Additionally, he
bared the provincial government has tied up with export firms to look for
foreign market of the tinawon heirloom rice.
The heirloom rice, indigenous to Ifugao, is the only variety grown by the local
farmers and is sown only once in a year. It is the main agricultural produce of
the province and is a major component of its tourism industry which sustains a
big fraction of its economy.
The tinawon rice, literally meaning annually, is currently marketed as souvenir,
sold at the different tourism destinations in different packed quantities by
various private entrepreneurs throughout Ifugao.
Making the heirloom rice highly valuable and finding a stable and sustainable
market may finally convince younger generations to return to the abandoned
farms and resume the seasonal planting, he stated.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/66573-save-ifugao-rice-terraces-scholarships