A tidbit from my work here

The following is from my January Report to my supervisor. I have to do a monthly report and this one both sums up the work I am doing here and presents an interesting conundrum. DA BEARS!!!

January Report

This month I decided to switch things up a bit and work out of the agriculture office at the municipyo. Instead of working out of home or at Jimmy and Sammy’s houses, I went to see J. Cabbigat and the rest of my friendly D.A staff here in Banaue. Many ideas came to me as a result of the overall increased contact with agricultural minds. I wanted to confront the many recent arguments that the project is not suitable or worthwhile for most small-scale farmers. In other words what I felt needed to be done was a case study regarding supply side feasibility with the typical small-scale farmer. So I decided to work with the D.A’s very own Emilio Abayao.

Scenario A – Emilio grows all Tinawon
We assume a “typically” poor harvest of his tinawon due to an abundance of a variety of pests, a shortage of water and to the fact that since this is the first or even second trial of the tinawon, it has not yet acclimatized or adapted to this particular soil and climate. Emilio is able to harvest 66 bundles. This roughly equates to 132 kilos. We then put that through strict quality control and assume we lose 32 kilos after pounding, screening, and sorting. So Emilio sells 100 kilos at 50 pesos/kilo and receives a check for 5000P.
To calculate Emilio’s total labor payment in growing the tinawon we take into account all necessary field work done by laborers throughout the year, lunch for the harvesters, and the amount it would cost to pay men to pound 66 bundles of rice (So keep in mind, Emilio is not actually putting in any of the hard labor associated with growing rice). The total expenses come out to 3500P.
Income minus expenses leaves Emilio with 1500P. But now, since he sold all of his rice he must buy consumption rice for an entire year. Emilio says he eats 1 kilo of rice a day and at 23pesos/kilo of commercial rice, he spends 8280P on rice to eat for the entire year. That leaves Emilio with a net –6780P when it is all said and done at the end of the year. One obvious detail of being a small-scale rice farmer is that it is a livelihood that is clearly unsustainable without other means of income.

Scenario B – Emilio grows all Lucuop
Lucuop is one of the high-yielding varieties that many farmers in the BPKI region choose to grow for its high-yield and relatively low maintenance. *It should be noted that it has been known to harden the soil after a few plantings, which has obvious concerns for the future fertility of the soil. The majority of farmers, however, do not seem to heed this fact as they can simply “get a different variety later.”* Emilio says a normal harvest would yield about 120 bundles. Since there is no market for this rice and it is grown for consumption, Emilio says this will last for 3 months of consumption. But Emilio still had labor payments to grow this rice that totaled 2400P (less in this scenario because there is no need to pay labor for pounding.) For the other 9 months of consumption, Emilio pays a total of 6210P on commercial rice. That leaves Emilio with a net –8610P when it is all said and done at the end of the year.

Analysis
The Heirloom Rice Project clearly benefits Mr. Emilio Abayao. He saves 8610P- 6780P = 1830P by growing and selling the tinawon. For a farmer that cannot sustain his household with rice farming, the extra cash serves as a welcome incentive to become a member of RTFC. Right? – Wrong. According to Emilio, this 1830P is not enough incentive for him to switch to tinawon production. Why? He says that he has such a dislike of the commercial rice that he is only forced to buy it when his harvest of “natural, organic, healthy” rice (Lucuop) runs out. Simply put, he would rather eat only 9 months of commercial rice than receive 1830P and eat 12 months of commercial rice. The extra health benefit, according to Emilio is worth it. When I proposed this same scenario to the entire D.A office, they all gave me the same answers. The fact that the rice is grown on their very own beloved Banaue rice terraces, no matter if it isn’t the traditional rice, is a source of pride. Having to eat lowland commercial rice is a shame they would avoid at seemingly any costs, well at least 1830 pesos worth. There is a xenophobic element to the rice culture here. Selling their coveted tinawon abroad and consequently, forcing themselves to buy the lowland commercial rice is something some farmers aren’t willing to do. They cling to the reason that the missing health benefit of not having those few extra months of homegrown rice is too great to sacrifice for the success of the project. But I believe this is a blatantly pretentious excuse. Some farmers are just plain distrustful of foreign intervention. It is a facet of the Ifugao people. It is what distinguishes them from other Filipinos. They pride themselves on their tribal roots relatively free of colonialism. It is also a pretentious excuse for the reason that the rice culture here simply prefers the terrace rice, as there is an emotional connection with it. Whether or not the varieties grown are lowland high yielding is of no consequence as it is only important that the rice stem from the soil of their ancestral terraces. These are the real kind of protective measures taken that explain why nearly the entire D.A staff chooses not to tangibly support the Cordillera Heirloom Rice Project.
Keep in mind, this is only representative of a handful of opinions coming from officers in the D.A who are relatively well off. I suspect that the poorer rural farmers will feel different about the potential of saving 1830P. For this reason alone, I think it is very important to the goal of eventually reaching 100 tons of tinawon export, that we focus more of our efforts on widening the exposure of the project rather than on the persuasion of those areas where we struggle to meet quota/pledges. This way we can find more farming areas like Amganad.

As for other matters, the RICE Inc. 2007 survey has been fully revised to look more professional and to address practical concerns. There is a cover letter with its purpose and within the first week of February, it will be distributed with the assistance of PAENRO. Samples from villages of each municipality are being worked on and collected now.