BAGUIO CITY – In celebration of National Heritage Month, SM Supermalls partners with Filipino Heritage Commission, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for a photo exhibit entitled Rice Culture of the Cordilleras and Philippine Food Staples Sufficiency Program.
The event underscores the importance of indigenous peoples’ contribution of their knowledge system to the conservation of heirloom rice varieties. It further promotes heirloom rice and the Filipino tradition in the upland areas.
This photo exhibit has been initiated by the Heirloom Rice Project (HRP) led by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The spirit of the event itself captures the broader commitment that the Institute has toward heirloom rice varieties and the people that these support. Through the HRP, IRRI and its partners seek to understand more about the indigenous rice varieties and thus help preserve cultural traditions surrounding this culture in the Cordilleras.
It aims to enhance the productivity and enrich the legacy of heirloom rice varieties through empowered indigenous communities in unfavorable rice-based ecosystems.
The photo exhibit was previously held in selected SM Supermalls, SM City Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, SM City Cauayan in Isabela, SM City Clark and SM City Pampanga. The exhibit in SM City Baguio will run from June 19-24, 2016 at the mall atrium. Featured photos were taken by Dave Leprozo Jr. and Isagani Serrano.
By Karren Nobres
