IT HAS been the bane of Negros Occidental to be called “sugarlandia.”
It used to be a case of putting all eggs in one basket of sugar.
Everything rises or falls on the fortune of this commodity. As one former official of the Sugar Regulatory Administration featured in the video documentary “Pureza” put it, when the sugar industry sneezes, the province catches a cold.
Not anymore. Negrenses are basking in the glow of good news after good news. From grass, it can thrive on the boons of grain.
Recently, PhilRice Chief Science Research Specialist Dr. Marissa Romero said the province already has areas intended for special rice production.
Romero said Negros Occidental, has not yet fully maximized its production and exportation of specialty rice potentials, thus the government should look at it as an enterprise opportunity for local farmers.
I remember in 2004 when the NGO Broad Initiatives for Negros Development (Bind) exported organic rice to Switzerland.
It was a one-shot deal. Switzerland—and European countries for that matter—are not known to be rice eaters. A market research shows they consume a small portion of rice once a week. It’s a very elastic product among Europeans.
But the fact that it was able to meet stringent Swiss import requirements shows the potential of rice as an export product.
Now in 2018, Romero emphasized that “There are many specialty rice areas in Negros Occidental which can produce quality products through proper postharvest” and that with “good labels and packaging, it can be competitive.”
A former Peace Corps volunteer who once worked in the Cordilleras emailed me once. Back in the USA, she was into the import business of heirloom rice varieties.
Bind back then was involved in plant genetic resource conservation. Community genebanking key to on-farm conservation, focusing on native rice conservation. These rice varieties are often found in the mountains of Negros Occidental.
In the plains, these rice varieties have been subsumed by IRRI-bred rice.
Now PhilRice is taking the cudgels for these rice endemics. Romero touched on business opportunities and different by-products of special or specialty rice.
She also discussed to what specialty rice is, why it is called special, what its benefits are, and how it can be utilized for value adding. Romero said specialty rice is of premium quality, thus it commands a higher price in the market.
Will Negrenses take up the call of business opportunities and rice conservation to boost the provincial economy?*
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)