Heirloom rice in Ifugao: an ‘anti-commodity’ in the process of commodification

Abstract

We analyse the marketing of 'heirloom rices' produced in the Cordillera mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines, as the commodification of a historical 'anticommodity'. We contend that, historically, rice was produced for social, cultural and spiritual purposes but not primarily for sale or trade. The Ifugaos were able to sustain terraced wet-rice cultivation within a system of 'escape agriculture' because they were protected from Spanish interference by the friction of terrain and distance. 'Heirloom rice' is a boundary concept that enables social entrepreneurs to commodify traditional landraces. We analyse the implications for local rice production and conservation efforts.

Climate variability impacts on rice production in the Philippines

“…The north-central area of the Philippines is one of the longest continuously-cultivated areas of rice production in the world. Over time, the objectives of breeding and agronomic endeavors have changed, from local heirloom grown on terraces to mega-varieties grown in an industrial setting across millions of hectares [ 59 ]. At the moment, there is increasing interest in heirloom varieties with specific growth environments as a source of both food and export potential [ 60 ].…”

A Politics of Habitability: Plants, Healing, and Sovereignty in a Toxic World

“…Plants are not only resources to be capitalized on, although they do at times constitute a latent commons that offers the possibility of commodification. They are therefore not (or not only) anticommodities (see Scott 2009), even as they resist the forms of politics possible through stable trajectories of commodification (Glover and Stone 2018). In these gardens, therapeutic plants are never only resources to be harnessed for human need (corporeal, aesthetic, or economic); they are also collaborators in the making of nourishing and nourished spaces .…”

I Ke Ēwe ʻĀina o Ke Kupuna: Hawaiian Ancestral Crops in Perspective

“…The FAO's Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Programme [183] provides a model of more intact biocultural heritage landscapes now threatened in the face of economic globalization that might be adapted and leveraged locally to afford better protections for traditional agricultural systems and the knowledge and lifestyles they support. We also learn from challenges and solutions of Ifugao rice-growing communities in the Philippines as traditional rice varieties enter global markets as commodities in an effort to save the heritage landscape [187,193]. Ficiciyan et al (2018) make a case for the complex set of ecosystem services that traditional crop varieties provide [194] which raises important questions about the resilience of such biocultural heritage to climatic change [195] and the role of biocultural innovation in generating new possibilities in the context of modern economic forces [196].…”

“…Helping researchers avoid conflict could involve developing an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-like process for working with indigenous crops that effectively holds researchers accountable for considering implications of their research early in the process. A less top-down approach involves institutional support to train researchers in ethical best practices, such as those described earlier, and increase researcher awareness and understanding of local (see other articles in this issue) and global biocultural diversity and heritage conservation/restoration and biocultural design [183,187,[191][192][193]196]. Such an initiative could facilitate opportunities for collaboration and innovation provided trust is present.…”