MANILA, Philippines – Organic farming advocates are hoping to carve a niche in the global organic food market through the supply of unpolished rice organically grown by farmers in the Philippines.
Efren Moncupa, lead convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said the country can be a major supplier of unpolished rice at the same time producing organically-grown rice enough for local consumption, especially for subsistence rice farmers who continue to bear the brunt of the high cost of fertilizer prices.
Rice is unpolished when the whole grain of rice, from which the germ and outer layers containing the bran are not removed. The traditional way of removing the hull using mortar and pestle carved out of wood produces unpolished rice.
Modern rice mills use machines that remove the outer layers that contain the bran.
“The Philippines can produce and supply unpolished organic rice to other countries,” Moncupa, a former agrarian reform undersecretary and who is now with the Malasimbu Agricultural Cooperative, said.
Unpolished rice contains vitamin B. thiamine, niacin, vitamin B6 or pyridoxine and vitamin K, calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, fat, carbohydrates, protein and calories.
Unpolished rice is healthier as it provides all necessary carbohydrates requirements needed for the body. It is rich in fibers, helps control blood sugar and cholesterol, and is known to be beneficial for stomach and intestinal ulcers and for diarrhea. Because of the mineral content, it supplies important nutrient for the hair, teeth, nails, muscles and bones.
According to Moncupa, the use of organic fertilizer which is a lot cheaper than chemical fertilizer, will eventually make rice cheaper and more affordable for the poor.
“Ideally, because the production cost of rice is low, the cost of rice in the market should also be low,” Moncupa said.
Roland Cabigas, managing director of the La Liga Policy Institute (LLPI) and a convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said they are hoping to bring down the cost of rice to the price level of that sold by the National Food Authority (NFA). The cheapest rice sold by NFA, the country’s food agency, is P18.25.
This will eventually be possible, Cabigas said, through expansion of areas devoted to organic rice production. “If more farmers start to adopt the practice of producing their own organic fertilizer, the areas devoted to organic rice production will eventually expand, thus ensuring the price of organic rice at affordable level,” he said.
According to Cabigas, areas devoted to organic rice production can be expanded by utilizing idle agricultural land in the country. He cited a study commissioned by LLPI, which revealed that thousands of hectares of otherwise productive agricultural land are left inadvertently or otherwise idle by farmers because of various reasons, particularly the failure of local of government units to impose taxes on such idle lands.
“Through organic farming, these idle agricultural lands can be utilized, thus ensuring enough supply for local consumption and possibly, some for export such as unpolished rice,” he said.
Go Organic! Philippines is a consortium of nongovernment organizations led by the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and the La Liga Policy Institute (LLPI).
The group is taking the lead in implementing the Organic FIELDS Support Program Phase 1 (OFSP1), a partnership project with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) which aims to promote organic farming in the Philippines.