Drought damages world-famous rice terraces in Luzon highlands

MANILA – The world-famous Ifugao rice terraces in the Northern Luzon highlands have become the latest victim in the prolonged drought caused by the “El Nino” weather phenomenon.

As a result, officials of the town of Banaue in Ifugao province in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Northern Luzon unanimously adopted a resolution placing the terraces under a state of calamity.

“The terraces have dried up due to lack of rain to the extent that even a slight rain could cause landslides,” said Banaue Mayor Lino Madchiw in explaining the approval of the resolution.

The resolution, Madchiw said, would enable the municipal government to use the calamity fund, representing five percent of its annual budget, to help save the terraces, which used to be described as the “eighth wonder of the world.”

The mayor also disclosed that because of the dry spell, large earthworms have penetrated the paddies and endangered the centuries-old terraces which have become the major tourist attraction in the Northern Luzon highlands.

At the same time, Madchiew appealed for assistance from foreign donors and organizations to save from further damage the terraces which have been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educatonal, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Experts have acknowledged the terraces as an age-old engineering marvel in agriculture, which has stood the test of time and which has played a major role in providing the food needs, particularly rice, of the indigenous Ifugao tribe that built them.

The terraces begin at the base of the Cordillera mountain range in Northern Luzon and rise several thousand feet, a sight which caused one of the first foreign visitors to stand in awe and describe them as “the stairway to heaven.”

However, attempts to save the terraces by both the Philippine government and foreign agencies, like Unesco, have been stymied by the seeming lack of interest among the young Ifugaos, officials lamented.

Officials pointed out that the young Ifugaos now prefer jobs outside the province, like working in he export processing zone or call centers in Baguio City, also in the Northern Luzon highlands, instead of helping their parents farm and maintain their family-owned terraces.

The seeming disinterest among the young, however, gave rise to the adoption of a modern-day concept of “fish farming by terraces.”

Department of Agriculture officials assigned to the region explained this is done by encouraging the farmers to convert their rice terraces into fishponds to help meet the increasing need for fish among residents in the Cordilleras.

Aside from fish caught by villagers in the rivers that abound in the Cordilleras, their supply of fish is provided by dealers from the neighboring provinces in the lowland, like La Union and Pangasinan located along the coast of the South China Sea.

But according to officials, the prolonged drought has also wrought extensive damage to the terraced fishponds, resulting in a big drop in their production of fish like tilapia, mudfish and “bangus” (milkfish).

Related News and Articles:

• No Related News and Articles