Photojournalist donates works depicting Cordillera rice culture

A seasoned photojournalist, who made the documentation of the rice planting culture of the region a part of his life’s goal, has donated 35 photographs to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) – a gesture aimed at sharing to the world the Igorot rice planting heritage that dates back centuries.

Dave “Kulot” Leprozo Jr., a Baguiobased journalist donated the photos now on exhibit at the IRRI Rice World Museum and Learning Center in Los Baños, Laguna. The collection is a depiction of the unique Cordillera culture related to rice farming and the Ifugao rice terraces which were shot from 1990 to present. The exhibit will run until August 22.

The opening day coincided with the two-day conference on the heirloom rice project of the IRRI and the NCIP.

Cordillera produces eight varieties of native organic rice – tinawon, balatinaw, kintoman, lasbakan, galong, lablabey, kalaney and unoy – which grow on the UNESCO heritage sites in Ifugao and the other rice terraces in the region.

The collection includes the three different photos – that won Leprozo the Rice is Life Asia Awards in 2005, The Brightleaf Agricultural Journalism Award in 2013 and that of the Department of Tourism in 2007. The other photos were taken after he got interested in documenting the rice cycle practices as he goes around the region for news coverage.

“The photos are a collection of the life of the Igorots who relates existence to rice planting and I wanted to share to the others rice planting is not just the mechanical act planting but the igorot culture that goes with it,” he said.

Rice planting in the Cordillera is an indigenous knowledge, which in Ifugao was included in the National Indigenous Knowledge Education (NIKE) program implemented by the Provincial National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (Ifugao-NCIP). NIKE gears to impart to the young generation the rice planting heritage of the Ifugaos, to pass on the culture to the next generation.

Leprozo said that the exhibit aims to share the Cordillera’s rich heritage with others, more importantly to the IRRI, which is a worldwide center for rice research. “We should value rice. Aside from the difficulty of growing them, they are part of a unique culture that we have in the Philippines,” he said.

Cultural Heritage Rice cultivation in the Cordillera Administrative Region’s six provinces – Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao and the Mountain Provinces is an ancient practice that predates the building of the rice terraces by their ancestors believed to have been done two thousand years ago. The rice terraces were built with crude and pre-historic tools made of wood, stone, metal and with bare hands which determination on the part of the Igorots present still evokes awe in the engineering world – having been carved out of mountainous terrain while in some unforgiving areas out of rocky and soil formations and cliffs.

The rice planting and the rice terraces in the region are testaments which has withstood time which involves a working cultural practice system of forest, soil and water conservation popularly called “muyong system.”

Ancient cultural practices surrounding the Cordillera’s rice cultures plant- ing cycle is still practiced to the present. Ceremonies and rituals are performed from the sowing of seeds to planting, during the growth cycle to maturity and harvest.