BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) is currently in the process of studying the appraising and preference analysis on the production of the traditional rice landraces of heirloom rice that are needed to be collected and conserved due to the threat of losing valuable materials caused by the shifting to early-maturing varieties.
The study was conducted to record heirloom rice landraces, assess their distribution in the farming communities, and identify the top preferred landraces which will be a springboard in the development of the heirloom rice databank. It also comprehends and documents reasons why the farmers chose those kinds of landraces which will be considered in prioritizing conservation and more production of those landraces.
The term “landrace” is generally defined as a cultivated, genetically heterogeneous variety that has evolved in a certain ecogeographical area and is therefore adapted to the edaphic and climatic conditions and to its traditional management and uses.
The study assessed heirloom rice landraces as the basis of the immediate collection, characterization, and promotion of potential heirloom rice landraces from the project expansion areas in Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province.
In the first phase of this project, there were 55 heirloom rice landraces collected in farmers’ fields in the 17 barangays of Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mountain Province.
The study currently showed that there were 870 heirloom rice landraces identified where 622 were still existing, while 248 are extinct or no longer grown in any of the barangays in the four identified heirloom rice-producing provinces.
From the existing landraces, 41 were preferred by the farmers and 27 were reported to be extinct in some barangays, but still cultivated in other barangays.
The possible extinction of heirloom rice landraces has been considered in the study especially since most of these are being cultivated in small areas in few households, aside from collected seed samples that could contribute to the conservation of the genetic resource given its possibility of extinction.
Of the four provinces, Kalinga has the highest identified existing or still cultivated with 179 and 86 extinct heirloom rice landraces covering 16 barangays from the municipalities of Balbalan, Tanudan and Lubuagan. This is followed by Mountain Province with 170 existing and 72 extinct covering 45 barangays, and Ifugao with 146 existing and 50 extinct. Benguet recorded 127 existing and 40 extinct, covering 19 barangays.
Out of the total existing heirloom rice identified, the majority were cultivated by a few households in small areas and least were cultivated by few households in large areas.
There were 41 identified top preferred heirloom rice landraces from the covered barangays. These landraces were described by the farmers as high yielding, short maturity, resistant to pests and diseases, high tillering and with the market.
The study was conducted to specifically identify existing and extinct heirloom rice landraces, classify heirloom rice landraces based on the area where these are planted, and based on households cultivating these landraces, aside from identifying heirloom rice landraces that are top preferred by the farmers, and collect and conserve heirloom rice germplasm samples.
Handed down through generations, heirloom rice are special breeds of indigenous rice that exhibit exceptional nutritional value, flavor, aroma, color, and cooking quality. While the demand for these varieties is high both in local and international markets, their production is, however, low.
