DEPED: GO FOR BROWN RICE— FOR HEALTH, PH FARMERS

For the rest of the month, expect brown rice to be an added offering on the menu of school canteens.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones has called on public and private schools and the offices of the Department of Education (DepEd) to make brown rice available in their canteens in celebration of National Rice Awareness Month.

In a memorandum, Briones also requested that brown rice, instead of the usual white rice, be served during feeding programs, events, seminars, trainings and other school activities in support of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) “Brown for Good” campaign.

The DA campaign, with brown rice or unpolished grain as the centerpiece, is aimed at achieving rice self-sufficiency for the country, higher income for local farmers and better health among consumers. National Rice Awareness Month is observed up to Dec. 5.

Briones said making brown rice available in canteens, serving it during events, displaying campaign materials on campuses and offices and promoting the consumption of brown rice among students and personnel were among the many ways the DepEd and schools can support the campaign.

She also provided a list of more than 20 farmers’ cooperatives that can supply brown rice to schools and DepEd offices at affordable prices—starting at P38 per kilo or 50-percent cheaper than current market prices.

“[This is] in order to facilitate the participation and encourage the continuous brown rice consumption in offices and schools,” she said in a memo to all DepEd officials, public and private school heads.

She also asked DepEd personnel, students and school staff to take up the DA’s social media challenge dubbed #BROWN4good Challenge by posting selfies of their meal with brown rice on their social media accounts.

As part of the campaign, the DA also promised to donate one cup of brown rice to partner charities for every photo or selfie captioned with #BROWN4good on social media.

The campaign highlights the “four goodness” that brown rice can bring about: goodness to the body, to the farmers, to the country and to others.

The DA pointed out that unpolished rice is a healthier alternative to white rice because of its higher fiber content and higher satiety level, which can help prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

Consumption of brown rice can boost the value of locally produced rice, which in turn can help local farmers compete with cheap imported white rice. The variety’s milling recovery rate is 10-percent higher, which adds 10 percent to the country’s total rice output, the DA said.