Agricultural Changes in the Rice Terraces of the Cordillera Region, Northern Philippines and Their Impacts on Labor Dynamics and Food Security by Robert T

Global Journal of Science Frontier Research: D Agriculture and Veterinary Volume 15 Issue 7 Version 1.0 Year 2015 Type : Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-4626 & Print ISSN: 0975-5896

Agricultural Changes in the Rice Terraces of the Cordillera Region, Northern Philippines and their Impacts on Labor Dynamics and Food Security By Robert T. Ngidlo Ifugao State University, Philippines Abstract- The study covered four rice terraces clusters in the Cordillera region, Northern Philippines located in Asipulo, Ifugao, Tanglagan, Apayao Province, Bagumbayan, Tabuk City, Kalinga and Natonin, Mt. Province. The study assessed the changes that has occurred in the rice terraces and their impacts on labor dynamics and food security. To obtain the necessary data, a timeline workshop was conducted for each site involving ten farmer key informant for each study site and validated by a separate group of ten farmers. The result showed that the rice terraces started mainly as a traditional type of farming system relying mainly on human labor using farming practices developed and handed down from older generations. The modern farming innovation adopted by farmers are: substitution of traditional rice varieties to high yielding rice varieties, use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides, farm mechanization with hand tractors, rice threshers and rice mills and improvement of irrigation canals. High yielding rice varieties increased yield of rice by 50% to 70% vis a vis the traditional varieties and enhanced the food security situation in the rice terraces. Keywords: agricultural changes, rice terraces, labor dynamics, food security.

GJSFR-D Classification : FOR Code: 309999 Agricu lturalChangesintheRiceTerracesoftheCordilleraRegionNorthernPhilippinesandtheirImpactsonLaborDynamicsandFoodSecurity

Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of :

© 2015. Robert T. Ngidlo. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Agricultural Changes in the Rice Terraces of the Cordillera Region, Northern Philippines and their Impacts on Labor Dynamics and Food Security

Robert T. Ngidlo

Abstract- The study covered four rice terraces clusters in the of a peculiar group of people. It is estimated to be more Cordillera region, Northern Philippines located in Asipulo,

than 2000 years old (Conklin 1980) and shaped the lives 201 Ifugao, Tanglagan, Apayao Province, Bagumbayan, Tabuk

of many families who depend on it for survival. Rice r City, Kalinga and Natonin, Mt. Province. The study assessed terraces cultivation has become a part of the people’s ea the changes that has occurred in the rice terraces and their Y cultural heritage. For over many centuries, the rice impacts on labor dynamics and food security. To obtain the necessary data, a timeline workshop was conducted for each terraces operates traditionally relying mainly on human 271 site involving ten farmer key informant for each study site and labor, crude farming implements and organic systems. validated by a separate group of ten farmers. The result Since the 1980s a growing literature within showed that the rice terraces started mainly as a traditional environmental sciences, ecological anthropology, and type of farming system relying mainly on human labor using resilience theory has stressed the potential role of V farming practices developed and handed down from older traditional knowledge for nature conservation and generations. The modern farming innovation adopted by sustainable natural resource management (Gadgil et al. VII farmers are: substitution of traditional rice varieties to high ue ersion I s

1993; Toledo 2002; Ballard &Huntsinger 2006; Berkes& s yielding rice varieties, use of commercial fertilizers and Turner 2006). I pesticides, farm mechanization with hand tractors, rice threshers and rice mills and improvement of irrigation canals. The 70’s to the 80’s saw the intrusion of modern XV High yielding rice varieties increased yield of rice by 50% to agriculture within the tradition farming system. 70% vis a vis the traditional varieties and enhanced the food According to Baggethun et.al (2009) as societies security situation in the rice terraces. High yielding rice modernize, the traditional role of local ecological varieties created a fit between subsistence and cash wherein knowledge in natural resources management are being ) 50% of the harvest is sold to the market and 50% stored for D )

contested by rapid transformation. Rice terraces home use. For the traditional rice varieties 80 to 90% of the cultivators continue to endure persistent pressure to harvest are stored for home consumption with only 10-20 % sold locally. At other times, only leftovers from previous adopt new farming innovations to combat declining harvest are the ones being sold locally. Farm mechanization productivity, control the emergence of new pest and on the other hand eliminated the tedious manual labor diseases and meet changing demographic trends. Research Volume situation in the terraces freeing almost 60% of man-hours The study was conducted to understand the spent by farmers in manually tending the rice terraces. changes that has occurred in the rice terraces and how Improved irrigation designs courtesy of the national they impact on labor dynamics and food security. The Frontier government helped increased rice yield in the terraces. In end goal is to compare these changes with other terms of information sources, farmers obtain much needed information on agriculture from four various sources namely: agricultural heritage systems and facilitate a platform for tradition andinheritance (for traditional rice varieties), extension interactions among various stakeholders of traditional Science agricultural systems around the world.

agents from the Local Government Units, rice traders and of businessmen and farmer to farmer contact. Keywords: agricultural changes, rice terraces, labor II. Materials and Methods

dynamics, food security. Journal To understand the series of changes that has I. Introduction occurred in the rice terraces, an agricultural timeline was derived based on the narration of ten (10) key he Cordillera region in the northern central part of Global informants in each of the study sites. Each timeline was the Philippines is home to the most extensive rice obtained through a series of workshops conducted with terraces in the Philippines. Carved along the steep T key informants. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) sides of mountains, it is consideredan ingenious involving a separate set of 10 farmers was assembled to agricultural system built by the industry and shear agility validate the correctness of the timelines that was

obtained from the first group. Corrections were made in Author: faculty of the College of Agriculture and Forestry of the Ifugao State University, Potia Campus, Alfonso Lista, Ifugao 3608 Philippines. the timelines to reflect what was perceived to be the e-mail: [email protected] correct information.

The timelines was based purely on oral recalls traced from its initial phase covering the earlier years wherein key informants are tasked to recall different time prior to the 1970’s and succeeding years from the periods that new agricultural innovations were 1970’s up to year 2010. Three important features of the introduced in the rice terraces. rice terraces was included in the timelines namely: farming practices, consumption and marketing patterns III. Results and Discussion and the sources of information that aided farmers to The summarized timelines for each of the study adopt the series of changes that has occurred in the rice site is shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. The timelines were terraces.

High yielding Native rice certified seeds varieties introduced

201 Farmers cultivating a ear Manual mixture of native Y cultivation with rice and high Hand tractor 28 wooden plow and yielding rice harrow varieties introduced 100% Fully Hybrid rice Farming Open earth Open earth cultivation irrigation canal cemented introduced Practices irrigation canal of certified with portions irrigation seeds 70-80% of canal farmers

V cemented cultivating

VII Dry bed sowing Rice hybrid rice Wet bed sowing Commercial ue ersion I of native rice thresher s fertilizer

s introduced seeds introduced I Pesticide adopted Pure organic introduced XV farming Knapsack Rice mill Road network from sprayer introduced Claveria to introduced Tanglagan opened

)

D ) Initial 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 to present

Home Home Home Research Volume Consumption consumption consumption consumption Market in and marketing with 10% sold and sell of Claveria patterns to buyers from milled rice to opened

Frontier the town center Sadel. Barter (Farmers sell coming to the system palay and buy barangay to buy introduced. Rice farming rice in exchange of inputs) Science basic

of commodities such as sugar, salt, soap, drinks and others.

Journal

Sources Handed down of Government extension agents from the Farmer to farmer information Global from exchange and private information Department of Agriculture through the forefathers LGU. agricultural traders

Figure 1 : Tanglagan timelines

High yielding certified rice varieties Native rice introduced cultivation Pesticides and Use of hybrid herbicides Hybrid rice rice stopped adopted The same Animal power introduced and return to Weeding and farming through a certified seeds Farming harvesting by technologies Hand tractor seed subsidy (Hybrid rice Practices hand introduced No spraying from the expensive and Threshing Department there are no machine Portions of of more subsidy introduced Open earth irrigation Agriculture) from the 201 Harvesting irrigation canal Department of r

using sickle ea cemented canal adopted Agriculture) Y

291 Initial 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 to present

85% sold to

market, 15% V

Consumption retained for The same VII 100% for home The same consumption and and marketing consumption ue ersion I s patterns home consumption and marketing marketing patterns s consumption patterns I

XV Government Sources of Practices extension Information inherited from The same agents from the The same source of information forefathers source of Department of information )

Agriculture D )

Figure 2 : Bagumbayan timelines

Research Volume

Frontier

Science

Journal

Global

100% shift to high yielding High yielding rice varieties rice varieties Two except some introduced. croppingsintro native (Native rice duced glutinous rice. varieties (Tinawon first Application of disappearing) crop and Irik fertilizers and Hand tractor second crop) pesticides Native rice fully First crop fully varieties integrated in harvested by integrated in planted(Tinawon the farming hand, second the cropping rice with one system crop by sickle) system cropping New glutinous together with 201 annually rice introduced thresher and Cultivation of harvesting by ear Gardening Y native glutinous sickle. expanded Hand tractor Farming rice including introduced in 30 other practices some part of Fertilizer and vegetables the rice pesticide Cultivation by such as terraces application hand and cabbage, Weeder accepted. (few extensive use of tomatoes, V introduced farmers carabao. peer and Masagana applying VII other. Rice field planting fertilizers)

ue ersion I Chicken

s continuously introduced Herbicide use in s manure as

I flooded Gardening the rice terraces Continuous organic introduced stopped because XV flooding fertilizer No use of (beans only) it promotes stopped fertilizer and erosion of dikes. Weeding by pesticides Herbicide is use Commercial grass cutter Weeding and only in kaingin fertilizer still a and harvesting by Decreasing and vegetable ) big no no. herbicides hand sweet potato gardens. D ) introduced Manual milling Sweet potato production

of rice by mortal production for Sweet potato production revived and pestle. home Tilapia not for home use but for sale consumption introduced

Research Volume

Initial 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 to present

Frontier Home Palay are sold in Vegetable Home grown Consum ption consumption town centers in buyers come businessmen do and use of Lagawe and in the the buying and Science and marketing palay as Kiangan community to selling to the

of patterns payment for buy vegetables outside markets. daily wages and deliver to counted in the trading

Journal bundles post in Bambang,N. Vizcaya Private pesticide companies conducting

Global Sources of Inherited from Farmers going out to Isabela then seminars in the barangay Information forefathers bring in new rice varieties Private agricultural traders providing information to farmers.

Figure 3 : Asipulo timelines

A glutinous rice called Indonesia introduced by Joan Shelter (SIL Old native rice Four native missionary), 3 rice varieties varieties such as Additional 3 more native Linglingen, added native rice rice varieties waray, intan, varieties imported from pinasdong, imported Ifugao added. Wooden kammati, sodsod, from the harrow tapyak, pahweng Province of introduced and panitan Ifugao. either drawn by Declining 201 (minimum of 12 Golden Apple population of jojo

man or carabao r Snail Farming native rice (edible Japanese ea varieties. introduced by fish) eaten by Y Wooden Presence of practices Department of Indian eel. plow Agriculture giant 311 Old traditional introduced (DA). earthworms in farming practices Indian eel the Butac and (human power no introduced by Sta Isabel rice plow just DA. terraces carabao. clusters V

VII Open earth irrigation canal Concreting and partially Partially improved ue ersion I s

improved Irrigation irrigation s I Initial 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 to present XV

Consumption Home consumption only. Sell only excess palay not consumed from the previous and marketing )

year. D ) channels

Sources of Research Volume information Farmers own initiatives and extension agents of the Department of Agriculture

Frontier Figure 4 : Natonin timelines

the rice terraces into a mixtureof both traditional and IV. Lessons Learned from the Timelines modern farming systems. Modern farming innovations Science

a) Farming Practices led to the alteration of the rice terraces into three types of

It is clear from the timelines that the rice namely: a) rice terraces that persist with the old farming terraces started as a traditional farming system based systemb. rice terraces that combines both old and new purely on organic systems and the cultivation of farming practices and c) rice terraces that shifted to Journal traditional rice varieties. Land preparation is done modern farming practices. manually by hand and foot with the aid of simple Of the four rice terraces clusters evaluated, the implements such as shovel and spade. In some of the rice terraces in Natonin, Mt. Province resemble the old Global study sites, cultivation is aided by draft carabaos with and enduring old farming system. Farmers continue to the wooden plow and harrow. Farming practices cultivate the traditional rice varieties which was handed evolved locally without any form of external intervention down to them by the older generation of farmers. The and handed down from one generation to generation. tedious preparation of the rice paddies is done

The 1970’s to the 80’s were the years that saw extensively by both human and animal power. Cropping the intrusion of modern farming innovations and is done once a year but in recent years farmers have practices in the traditional rice terraces system. The learned to do two croppings annually out of the need to entry of these modern farming innovations transformed produce more food.

The rice terraces in Asipulo, Ifugao featured the dynamics and food security in the rice terraces. First combination of both old and new farming practices. and foremost, the substitution of traditional rice varieties Farmers do two cropping annually, wherein the first with high yielding rice varieties boosted rice yield from cropping is devoted to the cultivation of the old 50 to 70% comparedto the traditional rice varieties. This traditional varieties while high yielding rice varieties are substantial increased in rice production enhanced the grown as second crop. food security situation in the rice terraces where families The rice terraces in Bagumbayan, Tabuk City no longer experienced acute food shortages during the and Tanglagan, Apayao are the two rice terraces rest of the year. High yielding rice varieties created a fit clusters that completely reverted to modern farming between subsistence and the cash market where systems. The short harvest cycle of 3-4 months allow farmers produced rice not only for home consumption farmers to do two to three cropping annually. These but also fed in the local market (Ngidlo, 2014).However, modern types of rice terraces are mostly found in the the rugged topography prevents further expansion of the

201 low lying areas in between mountains flanks that are rice terraces space. The area of rice terraces owned by traversed by roads and highways making them easily families ranges from a few hundred meters seldom ear exceeding one hectare. Y accessible to land transportation. There are four prevailing modern farming The use of commercial fertilizer and pesticide 32 innovations adopted by farmers in the rice terraces and came only as a precursor to the adoption of high these includes: the substitution of traditional rice yielding rice varieties. Commercial inputs such as varieties by high yielding varieties; use of fertilizers and fertilizers and chemical sprays are indispensable to the pesticides, farm mechanization with the adoption of cultivation of high yielding rice varieties. Farmers have

V hand tractors, rice threshers and rice mills and no other recourse but to dispense these expensive inputs to sustain yield and control pest and diseases.

VII improvement in the irrigation systems. Commercial fertilizers has made nutrient management in

ue ersion I The adoption of high yielding rice varieties was

s s the precursor to the adoption of modern farming the rice terraces much easier and continuously sustain I practices in the rice terraces. The terraces clusters in higher levels of production. On the other hand, XV Tanglagan were the first to migrate to high yielding rice pesticides supplanted the labor intensive manual varieties followed by those in Bagumbayan, Tabuk city removal of pest reducing crop losses substantially. in the province of Kalinga. In the case of Asipulo in c) The use of hand tractors, rice threshers and rice mill Ifugao, high yielding rice varieties came only during the The rice terraces clusters in Tanglagan, Apayao ) earlypart of the 1990’s, however, farmers still continue to province were the first to break the tradition of manual D ) cultivate the traditional rice varieties alternately with the cultivation by employing draft animals (water buffalo) in high yielding rice varieties. Almost all of the rice terraces the preparation of the rice terraces. Subsequently, farm clusters that has shifted to high yielding rice varieties are mechanization was adopted with the introduction of using commercial fertilizers and pesticides. However, in hand tractors and rice threshers. Rice milling was also Research Volume a 50-50 setting like those of Asipulo, Ifugao, farmers are introduced later when the volume of harvest increased still very prudent in using pesticides being restricted by making it impractical to mill rice manually. Farm local legislation. The underlying reason for the restricted mechanization made the work much easier and lessen Frontier use of pesticides is the preservation of aquatic the number of man days spent by farmers in tending the resources which constitute an important diet of the local rice terraces. It has removed labor bottlenecks population. In the case of Natonin, Mt. Province, the associated with land preparation, weeding, pest

Science major significant changes in the traditional farming management and post-harvest processing. However, in

of system is the addition of three other traditional rice spite of mechanization, the carabao still remain an varieties imported from the province of Ifugao and the indispensable partner of the farmer used in cutting use of draft carabao and wooden plow replacing to a corners which could not be reached by the blade of the

Journal certain extent some of the manual cultivation practices hand tractor. being done by farmers. d) Improvement in the irrigation system Hand tractors replaced the tedious manual The improvement of the irrigation system in Global preparation of rice paddies. On the other hand, rice many parts of the rice terraces started way back in the threshers and rice mills made post- harvest processing 1990’s chiefly through the intervention of the National much easier replacing the tedious carabao threshing government of the Philippines through the National method and the old mortar and pestle de-hulling Irrigation Administration. In earlier years prior to the process. 1980’s most of the irrigation system in the rice terraces b) Impacts of modern farming innovations/practices in are considered crude sourced out along creeks and the rice terraces channeled along open earth canals. Poor irrigation and

The adoption of modern farming practices in drainage in earlier years may have led to enormous the rice terraces has numerous impacts on labor water losses but today, most of the rice terraces in the

Cordillera region is serviced by improved irrigation inherited from one generation to another. The repetitive system courtesy of the national government. Farmers in nature of these practices could have lasted for more Bagumbayan, Tanglagan, Natonin and Asipulo enjoy the than 2000 years. The transition to modern agriculture services of a much improved and centralized irrigation paved the way for the adoption of high yielding rice systems. The importance of water in securing a good varieties and other modern farming practices associated harvest cannot be overemphasized thus, improved with it. The entry of high yielding rice varieties did not design and better management of irrigation water by came by accident but the deliberate efforts of farmer stakeholders contributed to higher productivity in government extension agents from the Local the rice terraces. Government Units. Seeds were given free to farmers and followed by lectures and teaching sessions on how e) Consumption and marketing patterns in the rice to grow these new rice varieties. On the other hand, the terraces spread of pesticides and fertilizers is said to have come Throughout the Cordillera region in the northern from the works of pesticides and fertilizer dealers where 201 central part of the Philippines rice growing in the farmers buy their farming inputs. In the Tanglagan area r

terraces is purposely for subsistence or home ea

rarely visited by extension agents, agricultural traders Y consumption. The early builders of the rice terraces were the most dominant sources of information. never intended to grow rice for commercial purposes. Farmers and private agricultural traders interact 331 Under the traditional management scheme, 80-90% of constantly seeking to negotiate and create opportunities the rice harvest are kept for home consumption while to fulfill their needs and pursue their business interest. In only around 10-20% are sold to buyers within the the process of negotiation, information is exchange on community. At other times only the excess palay not

the latest product, market prices, technology and V consumed from the previous harvest are the ones being practices. sold locally. In Tanglagan, a barter system was VII

At the farm level, the supply of information on ue ersion I introduced in the early 1990’s wherein rice was bartered s the efficiency of a particular rice variety or a brand of s for basic commodities such as salt, sugar, soap, coffee I and other forms of groceries. In Ifugao, traditional rice is pesticide is spread through farmer to farmer contact. XV given as payments for labor services rendered in the Farmers themselves (particularly the early users) are the terraces. Five bundles of unhusked rice is the equivalent vital source of information by sharing their farming pay for a day’s work which roughly corresponds to 8-10 experiences to other farmers who in turn try the same kilos of clean milled rice. Under traditional rice varieties, innovation or product. Rice terraces farmers are a palay harvest is seldom enough to support the food closely knitted groups, thus they share information quite ) D ) needs of families the whole year round except for those easily on the usefulness of a particular product which who own wider rice terraces and fewer mouth to feed. they used or are currently using. In the same manner, The consumption and marketing patterns for input/output price information also comes from other palay derived from high yielding rice varieties differ with farmers but businessmen provide the information as well. Research Volume that of the traditional rice. Farmers adopt a 50:50 split arrangement wherein 50% of the harvest is kept for The financial capability of farmers is one aspect home consumption and the other 50% is sold in the that may either promote or limit changes in agricultural market. In Bagumbayan, palay grains are sold to rice production. Except for Asipulo being serviced by credit Frontier traders in nearby Tabuk city while in Tanglagan, palay is cooperative, the other three sites do not have access to sold to rice traders in Claveria, Cagayan province credit. Farmers depend on credit facilities from approximately 35 kilometers away. In Asipulo palay is immediate family members, neighbors and friends. Science

Farmers in Bagumbayan displayed a keen interest on of sold either in the municipalities of Kiangan or Lagawe where rice traders are stationed. government subsidy for hybrid seeds for them to increase returns from the rice terraces. However, ources of nformation V. S I government subsidy cannot be relied upon at all times. Journal Farmers themselves have to develop local strategies to The capacity of farmers to change their continue with newly introduced innovations agricultural practices is hinge on two important Global resources and these are: information/communication VI. Conclusion and Recommendations networks and the availability of financial resources to support the intended changes. Four modes of The 70’s to the 90’s of the last century where information sources can be picked from the timelines the most critical years in the history of rice terraces namely: inheritance and tradition, government cultivation in the rice terraces. Under constant pressure extension agents, farmer to farmer contact and to produce more food, farmers with the help of agricultural traders/ technicians. The timeline shows that extension workers from the Local Government Units prior to the 1980’s, the rice terraces was purely started to experiment on the cultivation of modern rice traditional in nature meaning farming practices are varieties. With very promising results, farmers started to

abandon the traditional rice varieties in favor of these options for investment in fisheries, duck production modern rice cultivars. The transition to high yielding rice and shell-fish integration schemes. Investment in varieties converted the once subsistence economy to a irrigation infrastructure is also needed and should market oriented agricultural economy. Although limited form part of the investment policy to promote in scale compared to lowland standards, it has open agricultural productivity. new ways wherein famers can earn additional income 2. Extension programs- changes in the rice terraces is from the sale of palay harvest. Modern rice cultivars inevitable and therefore extension programs can substantially increased the level of rice production and play a vital role in thetransfer of appropriate has improved the food supply situation in the terraces. technology, facilitating interactions and promoting In recent years, farmers alleged that it has become capacity among farmers. Extension services that doubly difficult to find hired hands to help families do the caters to the conservation of the multi-functionality tedious manual works in the rice terraces. The arrival of of the ice terracesis very much needed. In addition,

201 the hand tractor eliminated the need for hired labor and extension services that help enhanced the skills of families can do the work alone in their own rice field. farmers to diversify livelihoods as mentioned above ear are very much welcome. Y Farm mechanization reduced the number of man-hours spent by farmers in preparing their rice terraces which 34 they can use for other productive activities. It has also VII. Acknowledgement removed labor bottlenecks by eliminating the tedious The author acknowledged with gratitude the manual labor situation in the terraces. local barangay officials who assisted in selecting the key The contemporary issues affecting the rice informants of the study. The author also acknowledged

V terraces are poverty and food insecurity. To secure a with same gratitude the Ifugao State University through

VII more stable food supply, farmers must learn to go its top management for allowing the author to work in beyond subsistence to create surplus production for the ue ersion I this project. s s market. However, committing the rice terraces to the I commercial production of rice is not possible References Références Referencias XV considering spatial limitation and the need to preserve 1. Baggethun, E. G et al. (2009) Traditional Ecological traditional knowledge. The rice terraces is a complex Knowledge: Trends in Transitionto a Market social-ecological system in which the biophysical Economy. Empirical Study in the Donaña Natural system (land, forest and water), human culture and Areas. Conservation Biology, Spain. ) livelihoods are linked together. With these complex

D 2. Ballard, H., and L. Huntsinger. (2006)Salal harvester ) interaction, there is a need to balance the utilization of local ecological knowledge, harvest practices and the rice terraces to both modern and traditional understory management on the Olympic Peninsula, agriculture. Higher elevation terraces made up of Washington. Human Ecology 34:529 – 547. approximately 70% of the total land area of the rice

Research Volume 3. Berkes, F., and N. Turner (2006) Knowledge, terraces must continue to retainits traditional character learning and the evolution of conservation practice for the preservation of traditional knowledge and for social-ecological systems resilience. Human practices. On the other hand, the relatively flat to slightly Ecology 34:479–494. Frontier rolling terraces (typical of the rice terraces in Tanglagan 4. Conklin, H. C. (1980) Ethnographic Atlas of Ifugao. and Bagumbayan) found along river systems and easily University of Berkeley Press. USA accessible by land transportation can be committed to 5. Gadgil, M., F. Berkes, and C. Folke. (1993)

Science the growing of modern rice cultivars. The concentration Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity conservation. of modern rice cultivars to the relatively flat terraces of Ambio22:151–156. facilitates the transfer and movements(from the road to 6. Ngidlo, R. T. (2013)The Rice Terraces in Ifugao the rice paddies and from one rice paddy to another) of Province, Northern Philippines: Current Scenario,

Journal hand tractors and isolate the possible negative impacts Gaps and Future Directions. Global Journal of of insecticides and fertilizers on water and aquatic Biology, Agriculture and Health Sciences. Global biodiversity. To improve income flow and food security Institute for Research and Education. Vol. 2(4) 151-

Global in the rice terraces, it is necessary for farmers to learn 154. how to use their rice terraces to create other alternative 7. Toledo, V. M. (2002)Ethnoecology: a conceptual sources of income. The following are the policy framework for the study of indigenous knowledge of recommendation to enhanced food security in the rice nature. Pp 511–522 in J. R. Stepp, F. S. Wyndham, terraces. and R. Zarger, editors. Etnobiology and 1. Increase investments in agricultural productivity- bioculturaldiversity. International Society of there is a need to design an investment program Ethnobiology, Bristol, Vermont. that can possibly diversify sources of income. Aside from rice production, the rice terraces offer various