Groups aim to revive brown rice

THE Brown Rice campaign has reached Davao City and advocates of the staple are making a big push to revive brown or "unpolished" back to the regular diet of the Filipino.

Representatives from non-government organizations Oxfam and Dakila staged the Davao leg at the Abreeza Mall last September 13, with testimonials from celebrity advocates like Tado and food sampling of brown rice recipes developed by participating culinary schools highlighting the afternoon.

The activities also include the Organic Food Fair and brown rice cooking demonstrations by the Most Institute and St. Dominic de Savio-Gourmet Bites.

Oxfam and Dakila launched the campaign in Dumaguete City and picked Davao City as its next stop of the tour. Davao has been pushing for the use of organic natural farming.

City Agriculture Office (CAO) officer-in-charge Leonardo Avila III said the City Government of Davao is throwing its full support to the campaign.

Avila said brown rice is a healthy staple and was, in fact, included in the regular diet of the Filipino people long before white rice came along.

He said brown rice is ideal for people with diabetes since it has lower sugar content.

Brown rice is good for children's growth and energy because it is a good source of a protein called lysine. It is also rich in Thiamine, which is good for breast feeding mothers.

Marie Nunez, Oxfam public campaigns manager, said the milling of brown rice has less wastage which results to increased production and "thereby increasing the supply of locally available rice which can reduce our dependence on rice importation."

"This will definitely help us achieve the country's goal of rice self-sufficiency," Nunez said in a press statement. (CRAM)