The Department of Agriculture (DA) encourages the public to wage war against rice wastage as the campaign to have a rice self-sufficient nation. (PIA 7)
Children in Filipino households are often told during mealtimes to finish eating their food, especially the rice. With rice being one of the staple foods in the Philippines, parents would always remind their children not to waste food, particularly rice.
Statistics show that Filipinos waste at least two spoons of rice each day.
In an interview during the Kapihan sa PIA, Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 7 Field Office Chief Dr. Gerry Avila said the process of rice production – from planting to plate – takes time. “It takes four months before we can harvest them for milling,” said Avila.
To improve rice self-sufficiency in the regions, DA continues to push its campaign against rice wastage by calling on the support and cooperation of the public.
Waste food, waste money
Amy Belano, a 43-year old mother of two in Tipolo, Mandaue City, Cebu, said she encourages her children to eat all the food on their plate as she believes wasting food is akin to wasting money.
“Hutda inyong pagkaon kay sayang kay mahal baya na (Eat all your food because that’s expensive),” she would tell her children.
Amy is a fulltime mother whose husband works in a construction company as a backhoe operator. Making ends meet for their family is a challenge, so Amy keeps a close eye on every centavo they spend.
However, she admits there are circumstances when they cannot completely eat all the rice that they cook for a certain meal. Even if they have leftover rice or what is locally termed as “bahaw,” they would always save it for the next meal or even for snacks.
Amy said that she would cook “champorado” or rice porridge for snacks. Sometimes, it would be fried rice for the next meal.
Growing up, Amy said she has learned other ways of using the leftover rice. “Pwede gane na ampawon basta init lang gyud. (We can actually make ampaw out of it as long as the weather is hot),” she said.
Ampaw is a local term for “puffed rice” and commonly served as a sweet and crispy snack. It is made out of leftover rice, fried to make it puff up, and then sweetened with sugar.
“Wala gyuy mausik sa kan-on (There are several ways to use rice),” she said.
Brown rice
Under the ‘Be Riceponsible’ campaign, DA highly encourages consumers to eat brown rice due to its high milling recovery, nutritional advantages, and environment-friendliness.
“We encourage everyone to eat this rice kay gawas na healthy, dili usab siya kaayo giprocess, so environmentally, it is helpful. (We encourage everyone to eat this rice because, aside from being healthy, it is minimally processed so it is environmentally helpful,)” said Avila.
Brown rice is similar to white rice except that the nutrients that get lost in the processing of white rice remain intact with brown rice.
“Mao ra ni sa white rice nga gikaon nato and kalainan lang ani kay kas-a ra siya giprocess o matawag na natog ‘dehulling’ or gikuhaan lang og hard/husk (Brown rice is actually just the white rice that we commonly eat. The only difference is that it undergoes one milling process only, or we call it dehulling, to remove the hard layer or husk),” explained Avila.
In the theme and campaign of A-B-K-D of the BeRiCEPONSiBLE, DA emphasizes the letter B which expresses encouragement of eating ‘Brown Rice’ because of its high milling recovery and definitely of its nutritional advantages.
In an interview with the chief of Regional Field Office 7 Department of Agriculture (RFO7 – DA), Dr. Gerry Avila, said that it is highly recommended to eat ‘Brown Rice’.
“We encourage everyone to eat this rice kay gawas na healthy, dili usab siya kaayo nga giprocess, so environmentally, it is helpful. (We encourage everyone to eat this rice because aside that it is healthy, its process is not thorough, so environmentally, it is helpful)” He clarified that this is just the unpolished rice, “Mao ra ni sa white rice nga gikaon nato and kalainan lang ani kay kas-a ra siya giprocess o matawag na natog ‘dehulling’ or gikuhaan lang og hard/husk. (This is just the white rice that we commonly eat and the only difference is that it undergoes one milling process only or we call as dehulling or only took the hard layer or husk.)”
Brown rice only undergoes one-milling stage which sustains the high nutritional elements of every meal. (Photo credits to Department of Agriculture – Central website)
Brown rice vs white rice
White milled rice undergoes two processes: dehulling and polishing. On the other hand, the brown rice only goes through the dehulling process.
Dehulling removes the hard husk from the grain. During the polishing, the brown coating called bran is removed, which contains nutrients. This leaves the polished white rice with mostly carbohydrates.
Data from DA-7 shows that the removed nutrients in polished rice are the following: 15% of protein, 18% of good fat, 80% of thiamine or Vitamin B1, 70% of riboflavin or Vitamin B2, 68% of niacin or Vitamin B3, 90% of calcium, 75% of phosphorus, and 60% of other minerals.
According to the PinoyRice Knowledge Bank website of DA and Philippine Rice Research Institute, regular consumption of brown rice reduces the risk or incidence of Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cardio-vascular diseases, while helping lower blood pressure. It can also help people manage their rice intake, as it helps one easily feel full.
However, Avila admits that brown rice is not readily available in the market as it easily gets spoiled compared to white rice. Brown rice also contains nutrients that attract ants and other pests. All these contribute to the low production of brown rice.
Avila assured that this should not be a cause for concern among those who opt to eat brown rice as the supply depends on demand.
“As for the production, dali ra na siya kay kas-a lang ang brown rice i-mill, and white rice kadaghan (Production of brown rice is easier because it’s only milled once compared to white rice),” he said.
Production of brown rice would only go up if demand also went up. It is a domino effect, explained Avila.
An increase in demand for brown rice would also, namely: (1) help the farmers earn higher income as they can already market it directly; (2) result to people having access to brown rice at a more affordable price; and (3) help regions attain self-sufficiency as there will be a higher milling recovery.
The ‘Be RICEponsible’ campaign also advocates for consumers mixing rice with other alternatives such as adlai, saba, corn, etc. (PIA-7)
Rice self-sufficiency
Avila said Filipinos should also consider other staples to improve rice self-sufficiency in the regions.
The ‘Be RICEponsible’ campaign also advocates for consumers mixing rice with other alternatives such as adlai, saba, corn, etc. This complements the ‘7 Healthy Habits’ campaign of the Department of Health, one of which is ‘Move More, Eat Right.’
This campaign calls for the inclusion of other staple food in the Filipinos’ diet instead of just rice.
Rice mixed with corn would provide more protein, antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins B and E.
Another example is rice mixed with bananas which offers more vitamin B6 and potassium.
One can also substitute rice with lagutmon or root crops such as potato, sweet potato, and cassava.
A-B-K-D
The ‘Be RICEponsible’ campaign highlights responsible rice consumption, mixing rice with other staples, patronizing locally produced rice, and best practices and technologies in rice production.
It is anchored on the “A-B-K-D” movement, which directly translates to the following responsible rice consumption practices:
A – Adlay, mais, saba, atbp. ay ihalo sa kanin (Mix rice with other food staples)
B – Brown rice at kainin (Eat brown rice or unpolished rice)
K – Kanin ay huwag sayangin (Prevent rice wastage)
D – Dapat bigas ng Pilipinas ang bilhin (Patronize locally-produced rice) (JAT/PIA7)
