Fascination with Rice
Surrounded am I! No matter where I look, there it is – RICE. Whether glancing at a plate of mouth-watering morsels of the finest local cuisine, or looking out my window to the fields beyond my fence, rice takes a most prominent place. Even my “Breakfast Joy” from Jollibee presents garlic-fried rice for my pleasure. To say rice is a staple here in the Philippines is an understatement. Just about everyone eats it and, if available, eats it in large quantities.
My adventurous nature took a slight twist toward curiosity regarding this grain. I needed to find out more. No, I HAD to find out more – feeling my OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) kick in. Instead of taking my medication today, I think I’ll go on both a virtual and a physical trip to help satisfy this newfound fascination. There are so many questions to answer. Where do I begin?
A definition should help start things off. Rice is a cereal grass. Most often, rice grows in paddies, or fields, flooded with about 8cm of water. The white rice we see on the dinner table is the starchy portion of the cereal grass’s seeds. Hulled and with its “bran” layer and “germ” milled away, it appears polished to a bright white. Most rice eating populations enjoy white rice, with quality measured in milling and length, and many will refuse any rice other than white.
Rice in the Paddy
Health-minded individuals may be thinking of “brown rice” and wondering about its origins. Well, for the most part, brown rice is the same seed as white, just hulled and cleaned but not milled or partially milled. The bran layer and the germ remain intact, giving the rice its brown color. These two also provide additional nutrients, vitamins and dietary minerals to the consumer.
Brown rice is difficult to store, however, as it becomes rancid much quicker that white rice. It’s also a bit chewier than white. Still, I must admit it is my choice whenever it’s available. The nutritional benefits, as well as that of the rice bran oil helping to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, more than outweigh the choice of color argument.
Rice Terraces of Banaue
As mentioned before, flooded fields or paddies are where rice is most often grown. This “wet” method of rice production has been around for centuries. Not only is it grown on the flat lowlands, rice can be grown on the sides of mountains. A good example of this is the famous rice terraces of Banuae in Ifugao province.
To the surprise of many, however, rice is NOT an aquatic plant. The principle reasons for planting rice in water-filled paddies are for weed and pest control. This method, however, has its drawbacks. It does not allow the rice plant to reach its full potential of production.
This “wet” method of growing rice starts by thrusting three to five individual seedlings as a group into the flooded, muddy muck very close together. Such groups are spaced approximately ten centimeters from other groups. Plants fight each other for sunshine, air and nutrients in the soil. Fertilizer and insecticide are usually applied a couple of times during the growing season, as well as periodic clearing or cleaning the paddy of any weeds or dead plants. Resulting yields of rice grown in paddies average around two to five tons per hectare, depending on environmental and physical conditions.
Another method of growing rice – a “dry” method – is starting to be popular around the world. There is still some hesitant experimentation in the Philippines, but I am sure the results of the experiments will turn a few heads. Called System of Rice Intensification, or SRI, this method is quite interesting in concept and practice. Reporting harvest yields double of that obtained via the “wet” method or higher (six to ten tons per hectare), farmers in Asia and Africa employing this method swear by it.
Rice: Ordinary (L) vs SRI (R) - Vietnam Promo
During the second half of the Twentieth Century, a Jesuit priest in Madagascar, Fr. Henri de Laulanié, S.J., developed SRI in an effort to allow the Malagasy farmers he worked with to have happier and more secure lives. SRI starts with the philosophy that farmers respect and support the rice plants as living creatures that have great potential. Realization of this potential occurs only when a farmer provides the plant with the best conditions for growth.
Prior to planting, the soil is prepared with compost or other non-chemical enriching agents and, perhaps, used for a season to grow crops such as legumes that put nutrients into the soil. A farmer plants individual seedlings that are younger than those used in the “wet” method and spreads them out rather than grouping and bunching them, giving the plant more room to grow. During the growing season, the farmer doesn’t flood the soil but keeps it moist through limited irrigation. Additionally, weeding between the plants occurs about four to six times during the growing season.
The object of this method is to have each plant develop a larger root system that, in turn, results in a fuller plant above ground – more tillers, more leaves and more seeds. The net result is a larger harvest from fewer, better-maintained and grown plants.
This “dry” method of growing rice is fascinating and may very well lend itself to this area during the dry season. I think I’ll do a little more research and present my findings to the local farmers’ co-op. Who knows? It could make a difference here as it did in Madagascar. You can find a neat little handbook from WASSAN (Watershed Support Services and Activities Network) about SRI here.
Great article about growing rice. I’ve never heard of the dry method and/or SRI (System of Rice Intensification). Thanks for sharing! It’s great if we can teach the rice farmers a better way of growing rice.
My favorite rice variety is Jasmine, I would love to find a place where I can get brown Jasmine rice!
Hi Miss August – SRI has been around for a few decades, but is practiced mostly in Africa, Southern Asia (India, Bangledesh, etc.) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.). I have found articles reporting that it is being “looked into” by the Philippines. It would be nice if the Philippines could once again be a rice exporter. (SRI is how Vietman became an exporter vice importer.)
I have a 1/4 full 10 lb bag of Pamana Milagrosa Brown Jasmine Rice that we purchased at Seafood City in West Covina, CA prior to our departure. Also have a couple of small bags of Diamond G Brown Rice (not Jasmine) available at supermarkets in Southern California. I can only suggest that, if you are near a Filipino-oriented Asian store (or possibly a Korean-oriented one), you may be able to find some brown Jasmine amongst the bags of Pamana rice.
very interesting –thanks for such a great article
Thank you, James – I’ll try hard to keep the articles interesting!
I have started to hear about this method of planting rice. I plan to buy some land in the province maybe next year and start planting with this method. I too prefer the brown rice and Philippine grown varieties are available in the supermakets. Yes it’s more expensive, but it’s also healthier and fills your stomach faster and longer than white rice.
Hi BrSpiritus – A major island mystery is why the price of brown rice is higher than that of white rice. They are the same rice and less work goes into producing the brown! Perhaps it’s an inverse corollary to the law of supply and demand.
It appears to be an ecologically sound way of growing rice. That’s “new age” talk for more human labor-intensive. Growers using this method have found a direct correlation between amount of harvest and the number of times your rice field is weeded, with recommended weedings of at least four per season. With enough space between plants, though, weeding is not difficult. Given the ingenuity of the Pinoy, afficient devices for fast weeding would come about.
Make that read “efficient” devices vs. “afficient.” My morning typing is inefficient and ineffective until sufficient caffiene has been ingested!
Hi Paul,
You are a walking encyclopaedia! Thanks for the information on rice culture. Most of it was new news to me (except for the brown rice). Keep the excellent articles coming.
Thank you, John. I’ll try to keep future articles interesting.
Hi,
I’m Roberto Verzola, coordinator of SRI-Pilipinas, which is a local network of SRI practitioners and advocates. We just concluded our national workshop this Sep. 28-30 at the Bureau of Soils and Water Management. We have trained at least 1,000 farmers on the SRI method. The SRI Homepage is hosted by Cornell University and developments worldwide, including the Philippines, are posted there.
Paul, if you tell me exactly where you are based, I can put you in touch with an SRI farmer nearest you, in case you want to visit his field and observe.
Greetings,
Obet Verzola
Thank you, Coordinator Verzola. Your offer is very kind, indeed.
I am located in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, a fourth-class municipality north of the capital Laoag City.
Almost all rice cultivation I see in the immediate area appears to be the traditional “wet” method that relies on the rains during this time of year.
It would be interesting to view an SRI field. I will also spend a little more time with the SRI Homepage.
Again, thank you very much,
Paul
Dear sir,
I am an agriculture graduate and my system kadiramangalam system of rice intensification is posted in cornell web page also.I am intrested in visiting pillipines.I will obliged if you can guide.pl reply.I am sure my system will be more sucesssful
gopal
Hi Paul
Interesting….
I have never heard of the ‘dry method’ before. It sounds like an excellent method of growing rice especially if the harvest is much greater. Is the rice the same type as you would normally use for the ‘wet method’ or is it a different sub-species of rice?
I’ve seen rice laid out on sheets by the side of the road, presumably to dry under the sun.
Hi Barry – While I cannot confirm it, I believe the same type of rice can be cultivated using either method. Up here, varieties of rice planted are pretty much dependent on the soil constitution and average daytime temperature ranges, and a few other factors.
The “rice” you see on the side of the road drying out is palay – husked but unmilled rice. When milled, it takes about 100kg of palay to give you 50kg of rice.
While visiting the Rice Terraces. We had the oppurtunity to hike down through the terraces. There was a wee bit of growing happening. There was planting going on, and some chafing by hand. The countryside was extremely beautiful, and it was like being taken back in time.
While in Davao every friend of Melanie’s that I met. Asked me if I ate rice. I have eaten rice all my life. I found it very curious they asked this question, and that they were surprised by my answer.
Anything to improve the crop, and not do additional harm to the enviroment, and farmers. Thanks for the informative thread…….i2f
Hi John – A Kano can amaze and impress a Pinoy by eating the local delicacy that the Pinoy offers. When I go to parties, my plate gets a little bit of everything on the buffet. Pinay friends will approach me, look at my plate full of food, and always ask (with a grimace on their face), “You eat that?” I usually tell them that there were two lines for food and I guess I got into the wrong line!
Thanks for the kind comments.
Paul;
You are such a wealth of information! I again learned something today!
My 7yo Granddaughter asked me to spell rice in Tagalog.
I replied, “k-a-n-e-n”
She then asked to spell rice in English.
Of course I said R-i-c-e.
She corrected me and said A Kano spell’s rice P-O-T-A-T-O.
She helps me a lot!
Hi Paul – Aw, man!
Here all this time I thought rice was spelled U-N-C-L-E B-E-N-S.
I learned something today!
Sometimes I feel overloaded with information – I call myself the curator of the junk yard of trivia. Acres (hectares) of row upon row of stacked trivia bits, factoids, rumors, and the like. I close the gates occassionally with a little rhum, and turn into the junk yard dog.
Paul,
Rice is actually “bigas” in Tagalog and “kanin” is cooked rice. Bigas and kanin have two different meaning in Tagalog.
Ilocano lesson:
Rice = bagas
Cooked rice = inapoy
Great article Paul. I am going to be in Aparri (or close by) next week. I learned today that I will be having to ask for small portions of inapoy while there! I just hope we will not need a boat to get around. Sure hope this weather clears for us to have a good visit.
Steve
Hi Steve – Thanks for that fine comment.
Weatherwise, the initial, outer bands of rain have been dumping on us off and on for the last four to five hours. No flooding apparent but I’m sure the rivers are a little higher with runnoff from the mountains.
Latest forecasts show the typhoon coming ashore in Cagayan around 2PM today (Sat) and traveling NW to Claveria where it will depart land, go out a couple of hundred km, and make a hard right turn, heading for the Ryukyu Islands/Okinawa Japan. Intensity is waning with land mass dropping it to a CAT 2, then dropping to CAT 1 at sea.
Appari and Abulug are right in the path, so they’ll have tons of rain and wind to put up with. The winds have just started to gust a little now (6 AM)
Nice article Paul. I have heard a few years ago that they did a study about dry method of growing rice in the Philippines but I don’t know what happened to that. I don’t know if you know about it but it is supposed to be the Philippines who has the authority/knowledge when it comes to rice through the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) which I think is in University of The Philippines (UP) Los Banos. But they say that that is the irony of it all because, the Philippines apparently taught Thailand, Vietnam and many others how to cultivate rice and these countries ended up exporting rice to the Philippines bcoz the Philippines can’t produce enough. What are they doing in IRRI?
Hi Lito – Thanks for your kind comment. The IRRI tends to rely more on developing rice hybrids and traditional cultivation methods. The Philippines did teach those countries how to grow rice, but those countries took it a step further and are getting much larger harvests.
I do not know why things are the way they are here in the Phils. If we were discussing the USA, I’d know the answer as I’ve seen it in other endeavors:
1) Researchers are pronounced experts by the government;
2) Government gives researchers millions of dollars in funding;
3) Researchers spend money on their “pet” methods, not researching other methods;
4) Government goes along with researchers’ results and ask for refinements;
5) Government gives researchers more millions of dollars in funding;
6) Researchers continue to “ride the gravy train”!
That’s why, in the USA, item or method “A” will be pushed by the government while item or method “B” may be the best solution.
Hi Paul, good posting as always! I hope Parma treats you well. Thanks for sending Bob, the video update. Looks like you have a beautiful retirement home based on the fancy fencing of the property. Again, I hope Parma treat you well!
Hi David – I’m glad you enjoy the posting. Parma/Pepeng treated us well three times! Unfortunately, about 80% of the rice in the fields behind that fancy fencing was destroyed by the storms. The poor farmers were out there in the wind and rain trying to save whatever they could.
Dear paul.
I am eagerly waiting for your assistance to visit pillipines.Kindly do reply.My system kadiramangalam system is very popular in India.pl reply
yours
gopal
Hi Gopal – I wish I could assist you, but I haven’t any means or connections with regard to Philippine visits or with SRI. My affiliation is merely one of reporting about SRI in this web e-zine.
I do believe you would have a much better opportunity by corresponding with Obet Verzola who is the coordinator of SRI-Pilipinas (website is http://rverzola.wordpress.com) and is much better connected with this developing technology in the Philippines.
Please make that website read as:
http://rverzola.wordpress.com/
Sorry.