2,000 years old Rice Terraces in Ifugao Province

The governor said that the native rituals, dances, songs and partaking of food for the festival “are, in fact, revival of one of the great traditions of the Ifugaos which were more than 2,000 years old. It is one of our ways to thank God for the bountiful harvest.”

Baguilat said that visitors from Manila like representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were served with the native “binakle”, a cake made from pounded glutinous rice.

Earlier, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has campaigned for the festival which is now among the yearly big tourism activities which could attract more visitors to the area.

The rice festival, the governor said, is fitting to be held in all the towns in the province, site of the world-famous rice terraces.

Municipal Agriculture Officer Jimmy Cabigat said the LGU will distribute seeds to the 19 barangays here with idle ricefields. Farmers or households with malnourished family are the target clients of this project and they will be trained on how to manage vegetable gardens.

Funded by the Kenedy Round II, a program undertaken by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-CAR, the project which costs P.9M includes the creation of tree nurseries that will serve as source of fruit and forestry seedlings to help conserve the environment, as well as vegetable seedlings.

Cabigat disclosed that demonstration farms will also be established to showcase a vegetable production that will serve as the livelihood of farmers for the production of organic vegetables. “This will also advocate the use of organic farming,” he added.

This project is one way of fighting poverty and alleviate the economic conditions of the poor farmers here,” Cabigat said.

Geremy Gawongna, SITMO Media and Advocacy Officer said that primarily this activity hopes to sustain the viability of Ifugao Rice Terraces by improving stakeholders to effectively manage forest resources at the same time provide jobs to the people especially the youth in the heritage sites that would augment their financial needs and preserve their watersheds and rice fields.

He said the endangered terraces facing possible delisting as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an indication of our unmanaged mountains which is affecting our environment thus the landslides that have brought disaster and dry springs we experience today.

“This, the Ifugao people should work out,” he added.

To nurture indigenous knowledge focusing on indigenous practices in three heritage sites of Kiangan, Hungduan and Mayoyao, expertise of Indigenous Knowledge Professors and scholars were tapped.

Gawongna explained that among those that display indigenous engineering and architectural skills in the construction of a native house are the expertise of the Mayoyao people. This comes with the stone tiling which presents a clean surrounding and which makes a conducive area for drying palay harvest, including stone walling in rice paddies.

The municipality of Kiangan displays its indigenous rice production of “tinawon”, and the municipality of Hungduan its Land and Resource Management.

With the participation turn out, initiators of the forum hope to make it a continuous activity province wide.

Jatropha curcas also called physic nut, is used to produce the non-edible Jatropha oil for making candles and soap, and as a feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The cakes remaining after the oil is pressed can be used as feed in digesters and gasifiers to produce biogas for cooking and in engines, or the cakes can be used for fertilizing, and sometimes even as animal fodder.

Jatropha curcas or Barbados nut or Physic nut is a poisonous shrub belonging to the Euphorbiaceae or spurge family. The plant, originating in Central America, is mainly grown in Asia and in Africa, where it is known as Pourghère. It is resistant to a high degree of aridity and as such does not compete with food crops. Moreover, its cultivation is uncomplicated. It thrives on a mere 250 mm of rain a year and only during its first two years does it need to be watered in the closing days of the dry season. Ploughing and planting are not needed regularly as this shrub has a life expectancy of approximately forty years. The use of pesticides and other polluting substances is no longer called for, thanks to the pesticidal and fungicidal properties of the plant.

The oily seeds are processed into oil, which may be directly used to fuel combustion engines or may be subjected to transesterification to produce biodiesel. Jatropha oil is not suitable for human consumption. A colourant can also be derived from the seed.

In the early 1990s, a growth trial in Nicaragua covering 2,000 hectares did not live up to expectations, yielding only a disappointing 200 litres of Jatropha oil per hectare. However, Jatropha is well able to yield as much as 1,900 litres of diester per hectare, largely exceeding the capacity of rapeseed.

Municipal Mayor Charles Cattiling disclosed that they are starting the cultivation of this genus in his municipality with the hope of putting up a biodeisel refinery in the future.

Cattiling informed that during a recent seminar he attended, a commitment for a grant was offered by the Japan Government and the Philippine Councils for Agricultural Research and Development (PICARD) for this purpose.

With the plant growing well in the area and with no much needed maintenance, the mayor intends to promote it to farmers in his municipality to plant in vast idle lands or in between corn fields.

This when developed is not just an excellent tool for real sustainable development but great for developing countries in terms of jobs and energy because it holds enormous potentials to farmers.

Catilling hopes their local farmers will give intent attention and interest to this.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here claims that jatropha curcas has been used by the Ifugao folks for fencing since time immemorial.

Nestor Baccay, Assistant Chief of the Forest Production Utilization of the DENR here said that the plant which easily thrives in the province is commonly seen in fencing the pigpens, farms and pasturelands.

Baccay also said that jatropha called “magic tree” because it was discovered as a source of biofuel, is being used by Ifugao folks in the olden times to produce fire using the seeds which have an oily substance.

“Little did our folks know that this specie can free the country from being dependent on expensive imported crude oil,” he said.

Baccay shared that when the government thru the DENR launched the Green Philippines program last year, their office planted about 30 jatropha curcas along the national road instead of the germelina. The specie is only 6 to 7 feet tall thus it will not reach the electric lines which is the common problem of the local electric office here, he said.

“Jatropha which is considered as a shrub can be propagated through cuttings or planting the seeds,” Baccay said.

With the new developments that the said specie can produce oil, the local Agriculture Office here is now trying to encourage farmers to utilize marginal lands by planting Jatropha.

Avelino Lunag, of the Provincial Agriculture Office here said that the tagumbao is commonly seen in pasture lands because it can be used as fence, the leaves can be used for castration, snake repellant and biofuel.

“It has high resistance to drought that’s why it can tribe easily even in warm places such as pasturelands,” he said.

Ignacio Baniya, the Municipal Agriculturist of the municipality of Asipulo, on the other hand, disclosed that his office thru the help of a Peace Corps volunteer distributed five kilos of jatropha seeds donated by the Forest Corporation based in Manila to farmers in Asipulo last February this year.

Having planted about 2,000 jathropa last year, he observed that it takes one year for the seeds to grow and the cuttings will only take eight months.

LAGAWE, Ifugao — In line with the directive of President Arroyo to promote and safeguard the country’s eco-tourism sites through the provision of essential services for tourists, the Provincial Tourism here is promoting the Grassroots Entrepreneurs For Eco-tourism (GREET) Livelihood Grants Program.

Marieta Hangdaan, Provincial Tourism Officer, disclosed that the GREET Program would provide blocks of P50,000 worth of grants to deserving groups or individuals with feasible entrepreneurial/business proposals in eco-tourism sites in the country with priority given to young entrepreneurs.

Hangdaan is encouraging individuals or groups with in the province who would want to contribute for the development of our tourism industry while they earn to move before the deadline of submission of applications which has been extended until August 2007.

She said entrepreneurs who wish to establish a new business or expand existing tourism products and/or services can avail of the grant.

Parties who wish to secure application forms may get from their office, Hangdaan said.

Proposals of eligible individuals and organizations shall be invited to submit innovative, creative, well -planned and environment-sustaining business proposals for implementation to chosen eco-tourism site. She said business proposals should be based on the GREET Program Business Plan Template.

Applications will be evaluated in terms of how well they meet the GREET program objectives, she said.

With the value tourists place on indigenous culture and pristine attractions, and with the very unique culture and attractions we have, coupled with government programs that give us the opportunity to develop what we have, we hope to work in partnership with the community as development efforts for the countryside is very essential for the sustainability of tourism in Ifugao, she added. (PIA Ifugao)