Tabuk City, Kalinga – The heirloom rice in Kalinga ‘is seen to flourish’ with the turn-over of P3.176 million worth equipment and P1 million trading capital to Kalinga Rice Terraces Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (KRTFAC).
According to DA-PRDP the processing equipment and supplies include plastic pallets, rubberized rice mill, moisture meter, weighing scales, laminated and ordinary sacks, bag closer machine, among others.
“Along with these materials, the KRTFAC also recently received a trading capital amounting to PhP1 million that will be used to buy heirloom rice palays from its members,” a DA-PRDP official stated.
The funding was sourced out from the World Bank loan proceeds, DA, and Kalinga LGU while the KRTFAC ‘shelled out around P3 million counterpart in kind which is the existing processing building of the cooperative.’
Rowena D. Sawil, manager of KRTFAC, said the equipment and supplies they received are ‘really helpful in our consolidation and processing activities.’
“We can now haul raw materials from the rice farmers in heirloom rice-producing barangays of Pasil and Lubuagan. Also, we can now accommodate all the products of the farmers and pay them directly with the allotment of trading capital,” Sawil stressed.
DA-PRDP in a press release recognized that having been known in the international market, the heirloom rice enterprise has a big opportunity to grow, considering its high demand, which commands higher prices in both domestic and international markets.
Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) - certified heirloom rice specifically the Unoy (chong-ak), Jekot (red, black, and white), and the Ulikan (red) varieties having been recognized by The Arc of Taste, a project of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity to draw attention to, and protect, heirloom crop varieties at risk of extinction.
PRDP Project Support Office-North Luzon Deputy Project Director Elma S. Mananes, DA-CAR Regional Technical Director Danilo P. Daguio were also present during the turn over.
Congressman Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang along with Governor Ferdinand B. Tubban, Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) National Project Director Usec. Ariel T. Cayanan, and Provincial Agriculturist/Provincial Project Management and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) Head Engr. Domingo A. Bakilan led the turn over to KRTFAC on August 14, 2021 at Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga.
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