ILOILO CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Unit 6 is again calling on the public to patronize other alternative staple food rather than relying solely on rice as the country observes Rice Awareness Month this November.
In her message during the launching of the awareness month celebration held at SM City on Nov. 5, Agriculture Regional Executive Director Remelyn R. Recoter identified other staple foods such as cassava, sweet potato or camote, banana (saba variety) and even the white corn. Using these substitute foods can reduce the demand for rice.
“There is pressure in the rice industry to produce more. The country’s per capita consumption is 119 kilos per person,” she said.
She added that the 70-30 rice-corn mixture is found to be acceptable based on a study conducted among schoolchildren in Los Baños, Laguna. It has better nutritional values.
In addition, DA is also pushing for brown rice consumption, which is healthier compared with the well-milled rice.
Nonetheless, this Rice Awareness Month, Recoter encouraged the public to be “RICEponsible”. One of the objectives of the celebration is to instill the values of responsible rice consumption among consumers.
“What is important is we would be able to disseminate to our consuming public the importance of rice, being the staple food not only of Filipinos but half of the population of the globe. In the Philippines, rice is considered a political commodity,” she said.
The RICEponsible campaign also focuses on improving the competitiveness of farmers to produce quality rice.
“We are hoping that with the interventions of the government we would be able to uplift the lives of our farmers,” Recoter added.
This year’s celebration anchors on the theme “Quality Rice, Quality Life”.
“In the theme we are encouraging stakeholders to patronize local products, especially the produce of Filipino farmers, such as our rice variants to achieve safe and quality food for a long life,” said James Earl Ogatis, regional information officer.
Meantime, to entice the public to patronize brown rice, DA also offered a free tasting of cooked brown rice during the launching program.
It was followed by an agriculture exhibit and brown rice cooking challenge held in the afternoon.
A three-kilometer fun run will also be held on Nov. 24 dubbed “Run for Rice” to promote responsible consumption. (Perla Lena/PNA)
