Monday, January 01, 2007 Unoy rice trade opens economic opportunity for Kalinga farmers
TABUK, Kalinga - The export of the renowned Kalinga red unoy rice has indeed opened new economic opportunity for farmers here, disclaiming reports of exploitation by its marketing arm.
Vicky Garcia of the Revitalized Indigenous Cordillera Entrepreneurs Inc. (Rice), said the trading partner of Rice in Montana , USA used to stay here in the province, particularly in the town of Lubuagan.
Garcia said Mary Hensly, who heads the Eight Wonder in Montana , stayed in Lubuagan and has embraced the identity and culture of the place from 1976 to 1979. "So, it is far from being even imagined that one like her can take advantage of the people whom she had lived with and cherished sometime in her life."
Rice encouraged farmers here and in Ifugao to produce unoy red rice which already had three shipments to Montana .
To assure better marketing, Rice conducted a series of quality control seminars and advocated hand pounding instead of rice milling.
Garcia said consumers in the US prefer hand-pounded rice because of its nutrient preservation aside from maintaining better grain quality.
Demonstrations given to unoy farmers showed that hand-pounded rice stay full grain compared to the broken grain from milling.
Although the method requires more labor and time, it is so far the cheapest way for the farmers to meet the rice quality demanded at the international market, Garcia said.
Rice buys Kalinga unoy red rice at P50/kilo here and sells it at $5 in Montana but Garcia said Eight Wonder incurs marketing expense of $2.06/kilo.
Garcia, who recently visited the province, federated unoy farmers and worked for the next rice shipment early this year.
