Written by the Web Team
With the theme, Eat your rice right, PhilRice through its Save Rice, Save Lives Movement enjoins the public to celebrate the National Rice Awareness Month (NRAM) this November.
This year, the Save Rice, Save Lives Movement highlights the importance of eating the right amount of rice and with no leftovers.
“Filipinos depend mostly on rice for energy and eat rice more than what is recommended,” PhilRice rice chemist Joy Bartolome Duldulao said.
For a clearer picture of Filipinos’ diet, Duldulao said half of the typical Filipino plate contains rice despite recommendations to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Diversifying one’s diet by trying other sources of carbohydrates such as corn, cassava, and sweet potato, or eating highly fibrous unpolished rice or brown rice is a healthy option for Filipinos, said Duldulao.
Think tank of the Philippines` 2011-2016 Food Staples Sufficiency Roadmap (FSSR) said that diversifying diet will not only be healthy for Filipinos but will also maintain rice per capita consumption by 120 kg/year.
“White corn, cassava, sweet potato, and banana can be used as alternatives to rice once in a while. Countries like Japan and China are rice sufficient despite their small rice area harvested per capita because of the citizen’s diversified diet,” Dr. Flordeliza Bordey, FSSR spokesperson and PhilRice socio-economist, said.
Bordey said eating the right amount of rice and reducing rice wastage can significantly contribute to the rice self-sufficiency bid of the Philippine government.
NRAM activities
A series of Save Rice, Save Lives fora will be conducted in private universities nationwide this November. Last year, the rice conservation message was heard in five state universities and colleges where more than 5,000 students participated.
Come Nov. 18, PhilRice will hold a ceremonial harvesting in its rice garden at the Luneta Park. Elementary and high school students are invited to participate in the harvesting, games, and a mini cooking show featuring healthy and equally satisfying alternatives to rice.
The rice garden promotes the art and science of rice production in Metro Manila. PhilRice is collaborating with local governments to facilitate putting up of rice gardens in key cities nationwide.
For kids and young adults, PhilRice will have launching of Rice Manga, a handy 16-page comics that tells about how the youth can become rice conservation heroes.
To culminate this year`s activities, PhilRice invites everyone to join the Run for Rice, a fun run to be held at the Quirino Grand Stand on Dec. 3. The event has three distance categories – 3k , 5k, and 10k. Movie and television personalities are expected to join the event.
DA-PhilRice is a government-owned and –controlled corporation that aims at developing high-yielding and cost-reducing technologies so farmers can produce enough rice for all Filipinos.
For more information, visit the PhilRice website at www.philrice.gov.ph. Some rice blogs can also be read through the PhilRice Multiply account: www.riceawareness.multiply.com. PhilRice can also be found on Facebook through the Rice Awareness fan page.
