Mayor to groups: Help Banaue farmers maintain rice terraces

DIALOGUE -- Banaue, Ifugao mayor Wes Dulawan said they welcome discussions with a United Nations body, national and provincial government agencies to map out plans to improve the Ifugao rice terraces and improve lives of Ifugao farmers and not just to preserve the UNESCO Heritage Site. (PNA file photo by Liza T. Agoot)

By Pigeon Lobien  

BANAUE, Ifugao -- The mayor of this tourist town wants concerned agencies to map out a plan that will make traditional farmers of its famous rice terraces more productive, provide a performance-based grant not just to preserve the UNESCO Heritage Site but also enhance its environment.

In an interview on Thursday, Banaue Mayor Wes Dulawan said farmers rather depend on the dole out from the various government agencies assisting them than improve on production.

He suggested that performance-based grants will make farmers preserve the stonewall and provide irrigation on the rice paddies which have been their source of livelihood for generations.

“So that farmers could continue the rice cycle,” he said, adding that farmers are late in their planting cycle.

Dulawan said a holistic approach must be made since government agencies have been working to preserve the rice terraces and the culture of the Ifugao.

Support has been provided by the Departments of Tourism (DOT), Agriculture (DA), the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Social Welfare Development (DSWD) but each of them is only concentrating on specific mandates.

Dulawan said he is very eager to work out with the different departments to come out with an approach that will motivate the farmers to continue the rice cycle.

Reacting on a television news report which said the Ifugao rice terraces are in a very critical stage of deterioration, Dulawan welcomed the report, saying it will create an avenue for discussions.

He added that the issue of the condition of the rice terraces deserves "serious attention.”

Dulawan reached out to the Food and Agricultural Office of the United Nations (UN-FAO)-Philippines wherein he requested for a meeting to complement its technical resources with Banaue’s indigenous knowledge systems.

"The Banaue LGU hopes to collaborate with FAO in assessing the national and local efforts in the 12 years that transpired since the conclusion was reached that the rice terraces are in a very critical stage of deterioration. Perhaps then, we can also collaborate on concrete solutions based on the current situation," he said.

He pointed out that the FAO, culling its conclusion from DENR's 2008 proposal, posted that the terraces are in a very critical stage of deterioration and "do not allow the local communities to overcome the poverty line."

He said the rice terraces have partly sustained the families and clans that have traditionally worked the “payo” (terraces) for their own needs at least until the 80s, with some surplus sold for additional necessities.

He noted that the Tinawon heirloom rice variety which is traditionally planted in the terraces is a once-a-year crop so “our clans also worked on swidden farms, and harvested products from communal forests and water bodies.”

Dulawan added that it is “critical to note that not all families have worked the terraces as the majority of communities in Ifugao have also traditionally found a sustainable livelihood in forests and swidden farms, and as artisans and farmers.”

The mayor said Banaue will work not just with FAO but also with the national and provincial governments, and private groups to prioritize the financial empowerment of farmers, families, and clans so they can themselves rehabilitate the terraces.

“Lifting the Ifugao out of poverty, however, means the forests, water bodies and swidden farms also have to be sustained as they are all connected to each other,” he added. (PNA)