Manila Bulletin, Philippines : The Central Plain of Luzon - One of the greenest rice bowls in Asia

05/06/2003

The Central Plain of Luzon: One of the greenest rice bowls in Asia

IT was not too long ago that the Central Plain of Luzon was turned into a vast wasteland by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Before the volcano blanketed the Central Plain of Luzon with ashes and buried wide areas with lahar, green rice fields stretched for miles along both sides of the national highway, turning to gold at harvest time.

The Central Plain of Luzon is back to its old glory and once again has become one of Asia’s greenest rice bowls. Studies conducted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute show that rice growers in Central Luzon use less insecticide than farmers in other major rice-growing Asian countries. Here the mistakes of the “Green Revolution’’ where too much emphasis was sometimes put on the use of chemicals for pest control have been corrected.

Scientists of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) were quick to recognize the factors which contributed to the decline of the use of insecticides by the farmers in Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan, Zambales, and Nueva Ecija. The farmers learned to use integrated pest management techniques using insecticides only as a last resort to prevent crop loss and synchronizing their planting schedules in such a way that insect pest populations were sharply slashed.

With the reduction in the use of insecticides by farmers, fish, frogs, and edible snails returned to the rice farms, and the ecological balance was restored.

We pay tribute to our farmers and scientists who have now declared this area of our country to be one of the greenest rice bowls of Asia.