JICA program helps Ifugao folks nurture rice terraces

By Daniel Codamon

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- The province is a beneficiary of the Human Resources Development Program for the Sustainable Development of the Ifugao Rice Terraces funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Akihiko Noshino of JICA in a press conference at the provincial capitol here recently, bared  this positive development for the  Ifugao Rice Terraces which is inscribed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world heritage site  and  a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) as advocated by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The program also known as the “Ifugao Satoyama Satoumi Meister Training Program” will be implemented by the Kanasawa University (KU) of Japan in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) of Los Banos, Laguna,  the Ifugao State University (IFSU  and the Ifugao Government (IG).

This is intended to nurture and develop the young generations of Ifugao in the three pilot GIAHS  areas of the municipalities of Banaue, Hungduan and Mayoyao.

The GIAHS promotes public understanding, awareness, national and international recognition of Agricultural Heritage systems

Under the project,  the KU, UPOU, IFSU and the IG will try to replicate the model to reactivate and sustain the development of the rice terraces as a living cultural landscape by providing on-site skills and training opportunities to the Ifugao youth using curriculum designed and developed by the UPOU and the IFSU.

It also aims to  address the threats and problems that the rice terraces is currently facing such as landslides and outmigration of the youth which contribute greatly to the deterioration and destruction of these UNESCO-inscribed world heritage sites.

Activities involved in the program are tailored to win back the interest of the young Ifugao generation to their culture, rice terraces and mainstream as well the adaptive management framework of GIAHS.

According to the Deputy President of KU Koji Nakamura,  this training program succeeded in building the capacity of the young generations of Noto Satoyama Satoumi, a GIAHS site in Japan which has been challenged by the its decreasing and aging population.

He said that the capability building is of prime importance as this will empower the stakeholders of the rice terraces with both technical and leadership capacity to sustain its landscape.