The city agriculturist office is conducting field trials on recently-discovered indigenous rice varieties in the hope of developing the local upland rice industry.
Guesting at The Marco Polo Davao’s Club 888 media forum, city agriculturist Leo Avila said that at least 40 varieties of upland rice varieties propagated by indigenous people are being cultivated at a farmer field school in the highland barangay of Tapak in the Paquibato district.
“One row for each variety after the harvest, we will be looking at the quality and characteristic of each variety,” Avila said.
They will look for high yielding crops for propagation. They will also look for some other characteristics, like taste and aroma when cooked.
Some of these rice varieties will be exhibited at the NCCC Mall in June. It will be the first time that the public will see the rice varieties which were handed down by generations of tribal farmers.
Avila said the practice of indigenous rice farmers is to keep samples of seeds after the harvest and store them in wooden containers. Each family keeps a variety of its own like an heirloom.
The varieties were discovered during a validation study conducted by the Avila’s office in the remote barangay of Gumitan late last year. The team discovered 70 previously unknown rice varieties cultivated by Matigsalog farmers.
Another 18 rice varieties were also discovered in Tapak grown by Ata farmers.
Avila said that they will register these seeds in the seed bank of PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute) labeling them Davao Rice.
The city is keen on developing its upland rice industry in line with the strategy of Mayor Sara Duterte of promoting agri-business to bring economic growth to the remote barangays of the city.
Conservative estimates reveal that about 500 hectares are planted to upland rice in Davao City. [PIA 11]
