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Foreword 1 Part I — The Paradox 1. The Grain in Every Filipino Home 2 2. Where Does Our Rice Come From? 5 3. What We Actually Grow 9 Part II — Science We Have 4. The Research Institutes in Our Backyard 13 5. Rice That Drinks Saltwater 16 6. Japanese Rice vs Filipino Rice 20 Part III — Trade Trap 7. Who Feeds Us? 24 8. The 106 Tons That Made History 28 9. The Treasures We Export in Grams 32 Part IV — Way Forward 10. How We Cook It Matters 36 11. Why We Fail at Self-Sufficiency 40 12. From Importer to Exporter Again 44 Back Matters References • Glossary • Water Chart • Acknowledgments • About the Author 53 Contents

Foreword A note before you put this in your pocket This book was written on fastfood receipts, in palengke aisles, and while waiting for my rice cooker to click. I did not set out to write about rice because it is romantic. I set out because it is infuriating. We live in a country that invented modern rice science and still lines up to import it. We name our rice after fantasies — Sinandomeng, Dinorado, Jasmine — but the field name is Rc222, a high-yielding workhorse that feeds us and bankrupts us in the same season. Many of our kids probably think that rice came from Puregold. Learning where it really comes from will change how we eat, vote, and argue. This pocket edition is meant to be carried. Keep it where you keep the things you actually use. 1

Part I The Paradox 1. The Grain in Every Filipino Home Rice cooker theology in our homes The click is the same in every house. A sharp, metallic tik at 6:42 a.m., steam sighing out, the red light turning to warm. In our two-bedroom home, that click probably means my mom is already scooping, my niece is already asking for sabaw, and I am already calculating. We eat about 120 kilograms per person per year. The world average is 54. That number, 120, sits on my fridge next to a grocery list: it is not abstract. In 2024, we produced 20.06 million metric tons of palay, milled to about 13 million tons of rice. We still imported 4.81 million tons, a record. In 2025, to September, we are at 3.39 million tons — 81.44% from Vietnam alone. The Department of Agriculture says 2026 will close near 5 million again. That is not a gap; it sounds more like a habit. Walk with me to Muñoz market. Last Thursday, Sinandomeng was P52 per kilo, Dinorado (the new one, Mabango 3) was P60, the “premium” Mindoro Dinorado at P72 that is neither Dinorado nor from Mindoro. 2

My tita buys the cheapest. “Pareho lang yan,” she says. She is half right. Four varieties make up 85% of what we actually grow: Rc222, Rc216, Rc160, Rc300. All modern inbreds, all bred in Muñoz and Los Baños, all capable of 6 tons per hectare average, 10 tons max. The average farm gets 4.36. The gap between trial and field is where this book lives. When I was younger, I thought self-sufficiency was a slogan. PNoy said in his 2012 SONA we would stop importing by 2013. We did, for a month, in a weird, beautiful way — we exported 106 tons of black heirloom rice. Then we imported more than ever. I felt betrayed. I am now older and I feel something worse: bored of being betrayed. The price signal is broken. The farmer gets P19-22 per kilo of palay if he is lucky, P16 if the trader brings a moisture meter with a low battery. The consumer pays P52. The trader, the miller, the importer splits the middle. The farmer plants again because what else will he do? This book has three arguments. First, we do not know what we grow. We call it Sinandomeng but it is Rc160. We call it Dinorado but it is Rc218. 3

Second, we already have the science to grow rice in saltwater, in drought, at 8 tons — we just do not plant it where it matters. Third, we will never be self-sufficient growing cheap rice. We will be self-sufficient only when we import cheap rice and export expensive rice, the way Vietnam does, the way Thailand does. The way we briefly did in 2013. I am not an agronomist. I am a simple guy who learned to cook biryani because my neighbor, Aling Nita from Gubat, Sorsogon, taught me that her father's Salinas rice survived brackish water. That story sent me to PhilRice, to IRRI, to Benguet. What I found there is not depressing. It is enraging and hopeful in equal measure. That is why this book fits in your pocket. You can get angry and still carry it. 4

2. Where Does Our Rice Come From? Market names and field names If you ask a Manila palengke what it sells, it will give you poetry: Sinandomeng, Jasmine, Dinorado, Malagkit. If you ask the field, it will give you numbers: NSIC Rc222, Rc216, Rc160, Rc300. The poetry is marketing. The numbers are what feeds us. True rice names come from place. Basmati means “fragrant” and legally can only be grown in the foothills of the Himalayas — Punjab in India and Pakistan, a Geographical Indication so strict that a grain elongated 70% after cooking and with 1.5% amylose is rejected. Champagne can only come from Champagne. Basmati can only come from that belt. We have the same possibility. But first we have to stop lying to ourselves in the market. In the early 2000s, traders invented Sinandomeng because “R-64” did not sell. Rc160 is white, soft, 107 days, 6.1 tons average, 9.7 max. It looks like Sinandomeng should. 5

So they called it Sinandomeng. Rc222, the king — 20-30% of national area, 106 days, 6.1 average, 10 max — became Sinandomeng in Quezon City, Wag Wag in Isabela, and Long Grain in Davao. Same sack, different story. The farmer knows. The consumer does not. The PSA knows but reports in NSIC names. The market erases them. Dinorado is more painful. The old Dinorado was a tall, lodging-prone, aromatic traditional variety from Mindanao and Panay, 121-124 days, 2-5 tons, 60-80 kg N only, beautiful but lazy, falling over when fertilized. We loved its aroma because of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, the same compound in pandan and Basmati. PhilRice bred a replacement: NSIC Rc218 SR, then Mabango 3, NSIC Rc 218? Actually Rc 218 is Mabango 1, Rc 342 is Mabango 3. It yields 5.2 average, 8.0 max, 120 days, withstands AWD, does not lodge. In 2025, it won silver for World’s Best Rice as “Mabango 3 — Dinorado.” The sack in Rustan’s says Dinorado. It is not lying. It is not telling the truth either. . 6

What do we actually plant? PhilRice PalayStat 2023-24 is blunt: 7 Field Variety Market Name Share Maturity Yield Avg/Max Rc222 (Tubigan 18) Sinandomeng / Wag Wag 20-30% 106 DAS 6.1 / 10.0 t/ha Rc216 (Tubigan 11) Sinandomeng 12-18% 112 DAS 6.0 / 9.8 Rc160 (Tubigan 10) Sinandomeng Jasmine* 8-12% 107 DAS 6.1 / 9.7 Rc300 (Tubigan 24) Long Grain / Sinandomeng 6-10% 114 DAS 6.3 / 10.2 *Not true Jasmine. DAS = days after seeding. Source: PhilRice PalayStat, NSIC. Market names vary by region.

Add Rc18, Rc14, Rc442, and you cover 85-90% of area. Modern inbreds. Not hybrids. Not heirlooms. All bred after 2000. We are not a country of 1,001 varieties, though our genebank holds that many. We are a country of four. Understanding that is the first step to changing it. If we want a premium export, we cannot export Rc222. Vietnam already does, cheaper. We must export what only we have. I keep a notebook of market names. Last count: 27 names for Rc222 alone. The trader who told me laughed: “Sir, ang bigas ay bigas.” He is wrong. Rice is not rice. That lie is why we import 5 million tons and still feel insecure. 8

3. What We Actually Grow The four giants and their shadows Let me take you to a PhilRice demonstration field in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, at 6 a.m. before the heat. Four plots, four signs, four varieties that decide whether we eat. Plot 1: NSIC Rc222, Tubigan 18, released 2009. The workhorse. 106 days after seeding, 105 cm tall, sturdy, does not lodge easily, resistant to blast, bacterial leaf blight, brown planthopper. Yield: 6.1 t/ha average in PhilRice trials, 10.0 max in dry season with full irrigation. Water: keep 2-3 cm standing until 2 weeks before harvest, then drain. Fertilizer: complete 14-14-14 basal 3 bags/ha at 7 DAS, urea 21-0-0 at 25 DAS 1.5 bags, top at panicle initiation 35-40 DAS 1 bag. That is the recommendation. Most farmers do 2 bags total because urea went from P1,100 to P2,400. Then they wonder why they get 4.3. Plot 2: Rc216, Tubigan 11, 112 days, 103 cm, slightly longer grain, same yield band. Farmers like it because it is forgiving of late water. 9

Plot 3: Rc160, Tubigan 10, 107 days, 100 cm, whiter, softer when cooked, less head rice recovery but prettier. Plot 4: Rc300, Tubigan 24, 114 days, 6.3 avg, 10.2 max, new, high tillering (production of shoots). 10 Variety Maturity Height Avg / Max Yield Water Mgmt Fertilizer N Rc222 106 DAS 105 cm 6.1 / 10.0 2-3cm → AWD OK 110-140 kg N/ha Rc216 112 DAS 103 cm 6.0 / 9.8 2-3cm, late tolerant 110-130 Rc160 107 DAS 100 cm 6.1 / 9.7 Shallow 1- 2cm 90-120 Rc300 114 DAS 102 cm 6.3 / 10.2 AWD recommen ded 120-140

Now compare to what we nostalgically call Dinorado and Sinandomeng: 11 Type Field Name DAS Yield N Need Lodging Aroma Old Dinorad o (traditio nal) Dinorad o / Azucena 121-124 2.0-5.0 60-80 kg High High 2AP New Dinorad o Mabango 3 (Rc342) 120 5.2 / 8.0 max 90-110 Low Med- High Old Sinando meng (concept) Rc160 / Rc222 107-114 6.1 / 10 110-140 Low None True Aromati c Check Basmati 370 (ref) 135 2.5 / 4.0 60 High Very High

The lesson is physical. Old varieties were tall, 130-150 cm, they lodged — fell over — if you gave them more than 80 kg N. So farmers kept them hungry, so yields are low. Modern semi- dwarfs have the sd1 gene from Dee-Geo-Woo-Gen via IR8; they stay at 100-110 cm even at 140 kg N. You can feed them. We often do not. A farmer in Talavera showed me his notebook: “Abono 2 sako lang sir, kasi mahal.” Two sacks. Recommendation is 5-6. Gap is 4.36 tons. He knows. He also has a daughter in college and a motorbike loan. Fertilizer math is family math. This is not ignorance. It is cashflow. So when we say “Filipino rice,” we mean Rc222 cooked with too little water because the measuring cup was lost. When we say we want to export, we must ask: export what? No one will pay premium for Rc222. Vietnam sells the same IRRI lineage at $450 FOB. We need to sell something Vietnam cannot. 12

Part II Science We Have 4. The Research Institutes in Our Backyard Los Baños and Muñoz, two jeepney rides from power The International Rice Research Institute sits in Los Baños, Laguna, an hour and a half from Malacañang without traffic, three hours with. It was founded in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. The Philippine government gave it 252 hectares. In 1966, it released IR8, the variety that launched the Green Revolution. “Miracle rice,” they called it. Eight tons per hectare when the world did one. It had Dee-Geo-Woo-Gen dwarfing gene, it did not lodge, it ate fertilizer. My lola remembers the posters: Masagana 99. IRRI’s greatest gift was not IR8. It was IR64, released in 1985, planted on 15 million hectares globally, the most widely grown rice ever. It was also the parent of Rc82, Rc222, and half our four giants. The lineage is literal: IR64 × something = Rc222. We carry IRRI in our grain, but we act like we discovered rice yesterday. 13

Going north by bus is PhilRice in Science City of Muñoz. Central station, plus six branch stations: Batac, Isabela, Los Baños, Bicol, Negros, Agusan, Midsayap. PhilRice holds the national genebank: ~130,000 accessions, including 1,001 traditional varieties — Tinawon, Unoy, Ominio, Kintoman. They are not museum pieces. They are breeding parents. Salinas, the salt-tolerant series, uses Pokkali from India and FL478, a recombinant inbred that tolerates 8-12 dS/m salinity. Japonica lines use Japanese donors. All stored in -18°C vaults in Muñoz. And we have RCEF — Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, from the Rice Tariffication Law 2019. The law liberalized imports but taxed them. The tax, P10 billion a year, is supposed to go to farmers: 4.27 million bags of certified seeds to 2 million farmers, free, plus machines, extension, credit. Average yield of RCEF users: 4.36 MT/ha versus 4.05 for non-users. Small, but real. The problem: only ~30% actually plant the seed they get. The rest sell it — “Pang bigas na lang,” they say — or save their own for three seasons, losing vigor 10% per season. “We have proven that we can lower rice importation from 2.4 million metric tons to 500,000. In three years, we will be self-sufficient.” — President Benigno S. Aquino III, SONA 2012. We did, briefly. Then we forgot how. 14

Visit IRRI on a Tuesday. The genebank is quiet. The plots are labeled. A technician will show you IR64 and Rc222 side by side and ask you to taste. You cannot tell. The market can. The point is: the science is not missing. The supply chain from Los Baños to Muñoz market is 200 kilometers and 60 years of distrust. The jeepney ride is short. The institutional distance is vast. What would it take to shorten it? Put PhilRice seed depots in every NFA warehouse. Pay extension workers like call center agents. Make PhilRice breeders explain their varieties in Waray, Ilocano, and TikTok, not just in English journals. The farmer in Gubat who grows Salinas Rc108 does not read the Philippine Journal of Crop Science. He watches FB reels of his cousin in Dubai. Meet him there. 15

5. Rice That Drinks Saltwater Salinas and the coast that feeds us despite us Aling Nita’s farm in Gubat, Sorsogon, is 800 meters from the sea. At high tide, the river pushes brackish water into her paddies. Electrical conductivity hits 6-8 dS/m. Normal rice dies at 3. Hers lives. It is NSIC Rc108, Salinas 1, released in 2002. Salinas means salt. PhilRice’s series, 20 varieties now, is the most important rice breeding you have never eaten in Manila. Because we do not bring it to Manila. We grow it where the sea comes in — Sorsogon, Quezon, Pangasinan coast, Iloilo, Zamboanga. Then we mill it into Sinandomeng and sell it anonymous. Why salt-tolerant? With climate change, sea level rise pushes salt 1-2 km inland in Bicol and Central Luzon each year. In 2023, 15% of Bicol’s rice area was affected by salinity intrusion. Normal Rc222 yields 2.1 tons there, sometimes zero. Salinas yields 3-5. That is not a premium. That is survival. 16

How does it work? Donors: Pokkali, a traditional Indian variety from Kerala that survives 8-12 dS/m, and FL478, a breeding line derived from Pokkali × IR29. The gene Saltol on chromosome 1, a QTL that controls Na+/K+ ratio. Modern lines like Rc480 (GSR 8) and Rc610 stack Saltol plus drought and submergence. GSR means Green Super Rice, a project with IRRI and China. 17 Salinas Variety Year Salinity Tol. Avg / Max Yield Maturity Notes Rc108 (Salinas 1) 2002 8 dS/m 3.12 / 4.8 114 DAS First, Gubat staple Rc290 (Salinas 8) 2011 8-10 3.5 / 5.7 113 DAS Wide adaptatio n Rc292 (Salinas 9) 2011 6-8 2.97 / 4.7 111 DAS Early

18 Rc390/3 92 (GSR 1,3) 2015 6-8 + drought 3.8 / 6.1 115 DAS Green Super Rice Rc480 (GSR 8) 2017 8 + submerge nce 4.5 / 8.3 Davao 110 DAS Best, Mindana o Rc610 (Salinas 20) 2023 10 + drought 4.2 / 7.5 112 DAS Newest, Bicol target Salinity guide: 1-3 dS/m low, 3-6 moderate (20% yield loss for susceptible), >6 high (50-100% loss). Salinas tolerates moderate-high. Source: PhilRice, IRRI. Why not in Manila? Because the National Food Authority buys by weight, not by trait. A trader in Sorsogon buys Salinas at the same price as Rc222, mills it, bags it as Sinandomeng, and ships it to Manila. The consumer pays the same. The farmer gets the same. No incentive to keep identity. The chain erases value. I asked Aling Nita if she knows her rice is special. She said, “Special? Nabubuhay lang, sir. Hindi special, buhay lang.” Not special, alive.

That is the whole story of Philippine rice science: we have rice that drinks saltwater, and we sell it as if it is nothing. Vietnam would put a QR code and a story. We put it in a white sack with “Sinandomeng” in Arial Bold. There are 400,000 hectares of saline-affected rice land in the Philippines. If we planted Rc480 on all of them at 4.5 tons versus 2.0 now, that is an extra 1 million tons palay, 650k milled — 13% of our import bill. No new irrigation. Just seed that already exists in a Muñoz freezer. 19

6. Japanese Rice vs Filipino Rice Indica, Japonica, and why stickiness is politics Rice is two species pretending to be one. Oryza sativa Indica and Oryza sativa Japonica diverged 10,000 years ago. Indica is long, non-sticky, high amylose. Japonica is short, sticky, low amylose. The Philippines grows Indica. Japan grows Japonica. Both think the other is wrong. Amylose decides texture. It is the straight-chain starch. Amylopectin is branched, sticky. Laboratory numbers: • Glutinous (Malagkit): 0-2% amylose — sticks like glue, 0% elongation. • Japonica (Sushi, Nipponbare): 16-18% — slightly sticky, chewy, cold-stable. • Philippine Rc222, Rc160: 23-27% — fluffy, separate, hardens when cold. • Basmati: 22-24% but extra-long elongation 70-100% due to grain structure. Our average amylose, measured by PhilRice grain quality lab, is 23.1% for Indica. Japanese Koshihikari is 16.1%. That 7- point difference is cultural. 20

Filipinos want buhaghag — separate grains, can be fried tomorrow. Japanese want mochi-mochi — sticks together, can be picked with chopsticks, stays soft in bento. We can grow Japonica here. PhilRice did. Japonica 7 yields 7.0 t/ha average in Benguet trials, beating Rc222’s 6.1 in same cold site. It is cold-tolerant, 116 days, 95 cm, needs 2-3°C lower temperature for grain filling. In Benguet and high Cordillera, it thrives. In Central Luzon lowland, it suffers blast. 21

22 Type Example Amylose Yield Avg/Max PH Cooking Water Market Price QC Salinas Indica Rc290, Rc480 24-26% 3.5 / 5.7 (8.3) 1:1.5 P52 (as Sinando meng) Standard Indica Rc222 23.1% 6.1 / 10.0 1:1.5 P52 New Aromatic Indica Mabango 3 (Rc342) 20.5% 5.2 / 8.0 1:1.2-1.3 P60-72 Tropical Japonica Japonica 7 16.8% 6.8 / 7.0 (Benguet) 1:1.2 P95-120 (imported) Japanese Japonica (imported) Koshihikari 16.1% 4.5 / 6.0 Japan 1:1.1 P180-250 The opportunity: Japanese restaurants in Manila import Japonica at P180-250/kg. 30% of that could be grown in Benguet, Ifugao, Bukidnon. PhilRice has Rc220 SR, Rc242 SR — Sahod Ulan, rainfed, Japonica type, released for high elevation.

Farmers in Atok, Benguet, already grow it for local Japanese residents and Korean tourists. They sell at P95/kg direct, double Rc222. That is the model: not commodity, niche. But we keep teaching Filipino farmers to grow Indica for a Filipino market that is changing. My niece, 12, prefers Japanese rice in Yoshinoya. She says our kanin is “magaspang.” Rough. She is not wrong. It is rough because high amylose hardens fast. Japonica stays soft. For a generation that packs baon and eats cold, texture matters. If we do not breed for low amylose, we will import Japonica forever. The choice is not Indica vs Japonica. It is: do we keep breeding one type for one market, or two types for two markets, and export the one the world pays premium for? The answer is in Benguet, 1,400 meters up, where Japonica 7 hit 7 tons and the farmer, Mang Joe, said, “Sir, mas malagkit, mas mahal.” Stickier, more expensive. He understood economics before I did. 23

Part III Trade Trap 7. Who Feeds Us? The boats from Vietnam On February 14, 2019, President Duterte signed Republic Act 11203, the Rice Tariffication Law. It ended quantitative restrictions — the old NFA import permits — and replaced them with tariffs: 35% for ASEAN, 50% for non-ASEAN. The idea was simple: let private sector import, tariff goes to RCEF, farmers get seeds. The effect was immediate. Imports jumped. Look at the numbers. They are on BPI and PSA, but no one reads them except traders. 24 Year Total Imports (MT) Vietnam MT (%) Myanma r Thailand Pakistan /India 2019 2.89M 2.1M 72% 211k 356k 98k 2022 3.83M 2.94M 76% 318k 304k 140k

*Projection based on DA Sept statement. Source: BPI, PSA. FOB prices 2025 avg: Vietnam 25% brokens $452, Thai 25% $598, Pakistan $445. Why Vietnam dominates is not mystery. Three reasons. Proximity: Mekong Delta to Manila is 1,800 km, 4 days by barge, freight $28-32/MT. Thailand to Manila is 2,500 km, freight $40-45. India is 6,000 km, $70+. Second, variety: Vietnam grows IR50404, OM5451, ST25 — all IRRI lineage, same parents as Rc222. So Filipino consumers accept it. Third, price: Vietnam FOB $452 for 25% broken. Thai $598 for the same. Pakistan $445 but inconsistent milling. So importers buy Vietnamese, pay tariff, and still cheaper. 25 2024 record 4.81M 3.58M 74.4% 503k 401k 185k 2025 Jan-Sep 3.39M 2.76M 81.44% 343k 176k 96k 2026 proj* ~5.0M ~4.0M 80% ~500k ~300k ~200k

Price chain, September 2025, for Vietnam 25% broken: 26 Stage Cost Running Total FOB Ho Chi Minh 25% broken $520/MT $520 Freight + Insurance $30 $550 Tariff 35% ASEAN $192 $742 Port, trucking to Bulacan mill $35 $777 = P45.2/kg @ P58.2/$ Retailer margin + repacking P7-8 P52-53 retail (Sinandomeng label) Local Rc222: palay P19-22/kg, milling 65% recovery, milling cost P2, transport P2, retailer P6-8 = P52-60 retail. So imported at P52 is at par or cheaper than local at P60. Consumer picks cheaper. Farmer cannot compete unless his yield is 6 tons not 4.3, or his cost is lower. A Vietnam trader in HCMC via Zoom said why they love Philippines. He said, “You buy same rice we eat, but you pay more.”

We do. We import their everyday rice and sell it as our everyday rice. We could instead import their cheap rice for our everyday and export our special rice at $2,000/MT. But we do not have special rice in volume, because we erase its identity at milling. The boats keep coming. In 2024, 4,800 bulk carriers, average 10,000 MT. One every two hours into Subic and Manila. Watch one unload at midnight — rice in white polypropylene, “Product of Vietnam” stenciled, then covered with a second sack “Premium Sinandomeng” before trucking. Legal? Yes. Honest? No. 27

8. The 106 Tons That Made History When we exported again In July 2013, something absurd happened. The Philippines, the world’s largest rice importer, exported rice. Forty-five metric tons of black heirloom rice from the Cordillera, loaded in a container van in Baguio, trucked to Manila, shipped to Singapore. Buyer: a restaurant supplier for high-end hotels. Price: $1,800 per ton, triple Vietnam white. History: Masagana 99 in the 1970s made us self-sufficient for two years, 1976-77. Then we fell back. In 2010, PNoy promised in his SONA to cut import from 2.4 million to 500,000 in three years and be self-sufficient by 2013. By 2012, imports were 500k, actually. DA celebrated. Then 2013 — we exported. Total 106.55 MT that year: 45 MT black to Singapore July 22, 15 MT brown to Dubai August, 20 MT mixed to Hong Kong September, 26.55 MT to US for Eighth Wonder and diaspora stores. 28

The plan was bigger: 100,000 MT by 2014, 300,000 MT by 2016, focusing on heirloom and organic. DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said, “We will not export ordinary rice. We will export premium that no one else has.” He was right. Then PNoy’s term ended, the Rice Tariffication Law debate started, and heirloom was forgotten. NFA did not buy heirloom, PhilRice had no commercial seed multiplication, traders said volume was too small. By 2016, export became zero. By 2019, with the Rice Tariffication Law, we imported 2.89M. By 2024, 4.81M. 29 Date Volume Variety Destination Price FOB Jul 22 2013 45.00 MT Ominio, Balatinaw black Singapore $1,850 Aug 2013 15.00 Tinawon red/white Dubai $1,600 Sep 2013 20.00 Kintoman , Unoy Hong Kong $1,700 Nov 2013 26.55 Mixed heirloom USA $2,100 Total 2013 106.55 MT Target 50-100 exceeded $1,830 avg

Why we stopped is a list of small betrayals. No GI. No branding. No stable supply — heirloom is 150- 180 days vs 106 for Rc222, farmer cannot wait, yields 2-3 tons vs 6. So farmer plants Rc222 for cash, heirloom for family. No mill dedicated — heirloom needs rubber huller, not steel, otherwise it breaks. No marketing — Eighth Wonder in the US did, but DA did not support. What we exported was treasure. Here is a partial list of what left in grams: 30 Heirloom Origin Color Days Notes Tinawon White Ifugao ● white 160-180 Terraces, soft Tinawon Red Fancy Ifugao ● red 170 Nutty, export favorite Kalinga Unoy Red Kalinga ● red 150 Everyday heirloom Unoy White Kalinga ○ white long 155 Sticky, premium Ulikan Red Kalinga • red 150 Upland Chong-ak Kalinga • pink 160 Pinkish

106 tons is not nothing. 106 tons is everything. It proved we could. A Singapore chef who bought it told me, “This is not rice, it’s story.” 31 Mountain Violet Benguet ● violet 150 45MT to SG was this Ominio Mountain Prov ● black 160 Black, high anthocyanin Balatinaw Mountain Prov ● black sticky 165 Black glutinous Kintoman Red Benguet ● red 150 High alt. Ingudpur Ifugao ● brown 175 Tinawon family Lasbakan Ifugao ○ white 180 Longest Diket Kalinga ● black sticky 160 For kakanin Jekot Ifugao ● brown 170 Rare Sinambali Ifugao ● red 165 Ceremonial

We stopped telling the story. We went back to importing story-less rice from Vietnam and calling it Sinandomeng. The lesson of 2013 is not that we can export 100k. It is that we can export at $2,000/MT when Vietnam sells at $450. The margin is story, GI, identity. We have it in the mountains, in sacks in Ifugao, 150 days old, waiting. 9. The Treasures We Export in Grams What is heirloom, really Heirloom is a bureaucratic definition with a romantic heart. PhilRice: rice varieties grown by indigenous communities for at least 100 years, in their original ecosystem, using traditional methods, not bred by modern science, with less than 3% of national area, maturity 150-180 days versus 106 for modern, yield 1.5-3.0 t/ha versus 6.1. There are 1,001 traditional varieties in the genebank, 200 actively grown, 15 commercially available in Manila at any time, if you know where to look. Tinawon from Ifugao — the terraces rice. White, red, brown, fancy. White Tinawon: soft, 160 days, grown at 800-1,200 masl, rainfed, hand-harvested, pounded with wooden mortar. 32

Red Fancy: longer, nuttier, anthocyanin in bran, chefs love it. In Banaue, a farmer gets 2.2 t/ha, sells at P120/kg palay, milled P220/kg in Manila. Compare Rc222: P22 palay, P52 milled. Ten times the price. Volume is tiny, but value is huge. Kalinga Unoy — “unoy” means small, soft. Unoy Red is the everyday heirloom of Kalinga, 150 days, red bran, cooked 1:1.8 water, slightly sticky. Unoy White, longer grain, more premium. Ulikan, upland, drought-tolerant. Chong-ak, pinkish, from Lubuagan. In Tabuk, women sort by hand — red from white, broken from whole — at P25/kg labor. That sorting is value. Mountain Violet and Ominio — the 45MT to Singapore. Mountain Violet is not violet when cooked, it is deep purple, almost black, anthocyanin 150 mg/100g versus 5 mg in white. Balatinaw is black glutinous, for champorado that costs P400 a bowl in BGC. In Sagada and Bontoc, Ominio is for weddings. You do not sell Ominio lightly. You gift it. Benguet Kintoman — red, high altitude, 1,400 masl, cold- tolerant, 150 days, yields 2.8 t/ha. Farmers in Atok intercrop with carrots. Kintoman survives where Rc222 gets blast. It also fetches P180/kg in Baguio market. 33

Montana is a story: Eighth Wonder, a company in Montana, USA, owned by a Filipino-American, imports 20-30 tons a year of Kalinga Unoy and Tinawon, packs in 1-lb bags, sells at $5-7/lb ($11-15/kg) in Whole Foods, as “Heirloom Philippine Rice.” That is P650-900/kg. Same rice in Tabuk which sells at P120/kg. Margin is branding, organic certification, and telling the story of terraces. Chele Gonzalez, chef of Gallery by Chele in BGC, does a 10-course heirloom tasting: Tinawon White with sea urchin, Unoy Red risotto with carabao milk, Ominio black with duck, Balatinaw champorado with tablea. He pays P300/kg and says it is cheap. “This is not rice,” he says, echoing the Singapore buyer. “This is terroir.” (French term that describes the natural environment in which a particular crop is grown and how that environment shapes the product’s taste). What is missing is GI — Geographical Indication, like Champagne, Basmati, Parmigiano. Basmati GI took India and Pakistan 20 years, but now Basmati sells at $1,200/MT minimum, premium over non-Basmati $400. We could do Tinawon Ifugao GI, Kalinga Unoy GI, Mountain Violet GI. The IPOPHL has process, but DA has not applied. 34

If we get GI, we can stop Vietnam or Thailand from calling anything Tinawon. We can set floor price. We can export grams that pay for kilos. If you have 15 small jars in your kitchen, each 100g, each a variety. Total 1.5 kg, worth P2,500. Same weight of Sinandomeng is worth P78. That ratio — 32x — is our future. Not 5 million tons at P52. 10,000 tons at P650. The math: 10k tons × $2,000 = $20M, minus costs, still $10M to mountain farmers. That is 5,000 families at P100k extra each. Small? Yes. Real? Yes. Exporting in grams is how we stop importing in millions. 35

Part IV Way Forward 10. How We Cook It Matters Water ratios as national policy We cook rice wrong because we were taught wrong. Or rather, we were taught one way for one rice and apply it to all rice. That is why Basmati turns to lugaw and Dinorado becomes bato. Water ratio is not folklore. It is chemistry. Sinandomeng (Rc160, Rc222): milled, 23% amylose, needs 1:1.5 water by volume, wash 2 times only, no soak, cook 12 min, rest 10 min covered. If old stock (>6 months), 1:1.6. If new harvest (<2 months), 1:1.4. Why less wash? Washing removes surface starch, but Rc222 needs some to stay separate. Too much wash = dry. New Dinorado (Mabango 3, Rc218): lower amylose 20.5%, aromatic, needs less water. Old traditional Dinorado needed 1:1.2-1.3 because it is a tall variety with high volume expansion and fragile. 36

New Mabango 3: 1:1, or 1:1.1 max. Soak? No. Wash 1 time gently. Cook 10 min, rest 15 min. The aroma — 2-acetyl-1- pyrroline — is volatile, evaporates if you keep lid open so keep the lid closed. That is why your Dinorado does not smell: you opened to check. Basmati: the most mishandled. Real Basmati 370 or Pusa Basmati 1121: wash 4-5 times until water clear, soak 30 min, drain 10 min, then 1:1.5 water if soaked, 1:2 if unsoaked. Or pasta method: 1:6 water, boil 8 min, drain like pasta — best for biryani, grains separate, 70% elongation. Why wash so much? Remove surface starch so grains do not stick, and allow elongation. Biryani guide — two methods. Easy pilaf (what most homes do): 1 cup Basmati, wash 4x, soak 30 min, drain. In pot, 1 tsp ghee per cup rice, fry rice 20-30 sec until nutty, add 1.5 cups water, salt, bring to boil, cover, low 10 min, off 10 min. Full dum (Hyderabadi): 500g meat marinated overnight, 1 cup rice soaked, cook rice 50% (6 min in 1:6 water), drain, layer: half rice, meat, half rice, fried onions, mint, saffron milk, 1 tbsp ghee split half marinade half sprinkle on top. Dum: seal pot with dough, low heat 40 min. The half-half matters: split ghee half in marinade, half on rice, same for onions, mint. That is why restaurant biryani layers. 37

Heirloom: needs more water because of bran, longer maturity and higher fiber. Tinawon White: 1:1.8, soak 15 min optional, cook 18 min, rest 15. Unoy Red: 1:2.0, soak 20 min, cook 20 min. Ominio black: 1:2.0-2.2, soak 30 min, cook 25 min. They are not hard, they are patient. They were bred for wood fire, not rice cooker. So give them time. “If you cook all rice the same, you will think all rice is the same. It is not. Water ratio is respect.” — Aling Nita, Gubat, Sorsogon 38

Tape this inside your kitchen cabinet. When you buy rice, ask: what is the field name? Then water accordingly. That question alone — what field name? — will change the market. If enough cooks ask, Muñoz market will have to answer. And answering means labeling, and labeling means identity, and identity means we can export. 39 Rice Wash Soak Water Ratio Cook Rest Notes Sinandomen g Rc222 2x No 1:1.5 (1.4 new, 1.6 old) 12 min 10 Fluffy, separate Dinorado old traditional 1x gentle No 1:1.2-1.3 10 min 15 Fragile, aromatic Dinorado new Mabango 3 1x gentle No 1:1.0-1.1 10 min 15 Keep lid closed Basmati soaked 4-5x clear 30 min 1:1.5 10 min 10 Elongation 70% Basmati unsoaked 4-5x No 1:2.0 12 min 10 Basmati pasta biryani 4-5x 30 min 1:6 drain 8 min 50% 40 dum Best for biryani Japonica Koshihikari 3x 30 min 1:1.1-1.2 12 min 15 Sticky, cold- stable Tinawon White 2x 15 min opt 1:1.8 18 min 15 Terraces, soft Unoy Red 2x 20 min 1:2.0 20 min 10 Nutty Ominio Black 3x 30 min 1:2.0-2.2 25 min 10 Anthocyanin

11. Why We Fail at Self-Sufficiency The yield gap is a paycheck gap We have a simple math problem. We produce 20.06 million MT palay, 13.04 MT milled (65% recovery). We need 16 MT milled for 115M people at 120kg each, plus 2 MT for seeds, feed, waste. We have a shortage of 3-5 MT, hence we need to import 3.4-4.8 MT. To be self-sufficient, we need 25.5 MT palay. We have 20. So we need +5.5 MT palay. The average yield is 4.36 MT/ha (RCEF users) vs 10 max for Rc222. But our national average is 4.2. If we go to 6.5 MT/ha average — still below max — on same 4.8M ha area, we get 31.2 MT palay, 20.2 MT milled, or a surplus of 2 MT. We could export. The gap is 2.14 MT/ha (6.5-4.36). Why? Five reasons, all boring, all fixable. 1. Irrigation: 57% of rice area irrigated. Rest rainfed, yields 2.8 vs 5.2 if irrigated. Sixty percent (60%) of NIA systems need rehab. Water delivery is delayed for 2 weeks, planting late, blast. Solution: Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) — keep 2- 3cm then let dry to -15cm, save 30% water, same yield. PhilRice shows AWD + Rc222 = 6.0 vs 6.1 continuous, but water saving allows second crop. Adoption is only 20%. 40

2. Seeds: RCEF gives 4.27M bags, but 30% saved. Saved seed loses vigor 10% per season. When a farmer saves 3 seasons, yield drops by 25%. Need seed replacement every 2 seasons, not 4. Need village seed banks, not central depot 100km away. 3. Age: average farmer 58 years old. My lolo is 72 and still plants. Young people leave because palay price P19-22/kg, cost P15-17/kg to produce, margin P2-5/kg × 4 tons = P8k-20k per ha per season, 2 seasons = P16k-40k/year. Call centers pay P20k/month. No contest. We need mechanization: combine harvester cuts cost from P8k to P3.5k/ha, transplanting machine saves labor. 4. Fertilizer: recommendation 110-140 kg N/ha, actual 60-80. Urea P2,400/bag, farmer applies 2 bags vs 4 that is actually needed. Why? No credit. RCEF credit P15k at 0% exists but needs collateral and 2 weeks approval. Trader credit P2,400/bag at 10% per month, immediate. Farmer chooses trader. Math: 2 bags less N = 1 ton less yield = P19k lost to save P4,800. Irrational but cash-poor rational. . 41

5. Price signal: P52 retail vs P60 local, trader margin. Palay P22, milled P52-60. Trader-mill-retailer takes P20. Farmer share 42%. In Vietnam, farmer share 55% because the coops mill. In Thailand, it is 60% because of government pledging. Our chain is fragmented, 5 layers. Need: floor price P22-23 enforced, NFA buys 10% at floor, coop mills. If you show this table to farmers, they just laugh. “Sir, papel lang yan.” Just paper. 42 Scenario Area M ha Yield t/ha Palay M MT Milled 65% Need 16M Balance 2024 actual 4.80 4.36 20.9 13.6 16 -2.4 import With AWD + RCEF full 4.80 5.5 26.4 17.2 16 +1.2 surplus At 6.5 t/ha 4.80 6.5 31.2 20.3 16 +4.3 export potential At 7.0 Japonica Benguet + lowland 4.80 7.0 33.6 21.8 16 +5.8

They are right. Paper does not plant. But paper can decide where RCEF money goes. Currently P10B: P6B seeds, P2B machines, P1B credit, P1B extension. Machines rot — 30% unusable after 2 years, no spare parts. What if: P4B seeds + vouchers for fertilizer, P3B irrigation rehab + AWD pipes, P2B coop mills, P1B young farmer stipend P10k/month for 8,000 youth? Yield would move, but we keep buying tractors for photo ops. Self-sufficiency is not romantic. It is yield × area × recovery. We have area. We have recovery. We lack yield because we lack cash at planting time. Fix cash, fix yield. Fix yield, fix import. 43

12. From Importer to Exporter Again A six-year plan you can put in your pocket Here is the vision, blunt: import cheap, export premium. Keep importing Vietnam 25% broken at $450 for our daily Sinandomeng — 2-3 million tons. Export 100,000 tons of heirloom, Japonica, aromatic at $1,800-2,500/MT for $200M. Net: we still import volume, but we earn dollars on identity. Vietnam does it: it imports Indian broken for feed, exports ST25 premium at $1,200. Thailand does it too: it imports cheap, exports Jasmine. We did it in 2013 with 106 tons. We can do it again. 44

Six steps, one per year, overlapping. Year 1: Right Variety, Right Ecosystem. Map 4.8M ha by salinity, altitude, irrigation. Plant Salinas Rc480 on 400k ha saline, Japonica 7 on 100k ha highland, Rc222 on 2.5M ha irrigated, heirloom on 50k ha terraces. Free seed already exists in PhilRice. Just distribute by ecosystem, not by province quota. Cost: P0, just logistics. Year 2: Irrigation + AWD. Rehab 200k ha NIA, install 100k AWD tubes (P500 each, P50M). Training via TikTok and barangay. Target 50% AWD adoption from 20%. Water saving 30% allows second crop on 300k ha. +0.5M MT palay. Year 3: Seed System + Hybrid 20%. Village seed banks, 1 per municipality, PhilRice mother seed. Replace saved seed every 2 seasons. Push hybrid from 5% to 20% area — Mestizo 20, 6.5 t/ha avg, 10 max. Hybrids need fresh seed yearly, so farmer must buy, but yields are higher. Subsidize 50% first year. Year 4: Heirloom GI. File 3 GIs: Tinawon Ifugao, Kalinga Unoy, Mountain Violet/Balatinaw. IPOPHL process 18 months. Set standards: days, altitude, hand-pounded, max yield. 45

Create Cordillera Heirloom Rice Coop, with rubber huller mill in Banaue and Tabuk. Organic cert. QR code traceability. Eighth Wonder model but Filipino-owned. Year 5: Price Signal — Floor P22-23. NFA buys 10% of harvest at P22-23 palay, dries, stores, mills via coops, sells at P48-50 as “NFA Premium” to compete with Vietnam P52. Enforce labeling: field name required on sack — “NSIC Rc222” not “Sinandomeng.” Fine for mislabeling. Trader margin drops from P20 to P12, farmer share rises to 50%. Year 6: Young Farmers + Mechanization. 8,000 youth stipend P10k/month for 12 months to farm 2 ha each, with combine, transplanter, drone sprayer shared. Target 16k ha at 6.5 t/ha = 104k MT. Showcase: Benguet Japonica farms for Japanese restos, Ifugao heirloom for export. 46

What can each of us do? If you are a cook: ask field name, buy heirloom once a month. If you are a farmer: try Salinas on saline patch, 1 ha. 47 Year Focus Import M MT Export Tons Export Value Avg Yield 2024 base — 4.81 ~0 $0 4.36 2026 Y1 Variety map 3.98 proj 500 $1M 4.6 2027 Y2 Irrigation AWD 3.2 2,000 $4M 5.0 2028 Y3 Seed hybrid 2.5 10,000 $50M 5.5 2029 Y4 GI heirloom 1.5 40,000 $80M 6.0 2030 Y5-6 Price + Youth 0.5 100,000 $200M 6.5

If you are a student: intern at PhilRice, make TikTok of Rc480 vs Rc222 in Gubat. If you are a trader: label correctly, charge premium for truth. If you are with DA: stop buying tractors, buy AWD tubes and coop mills. If you are in QC like me: keep rice cooker clean, water ratio right, and vote for floor price. Epilogue: It is 6:42 a.m. again. The cooker clicks. I scoop new Dinorado, Mabango 3, 1:1 water, lid closed. It smells like pandan and like future. My niece says, “Tito, ang bango.” Fragrant. I think: we have rice that drinks saltwater, rice that grows at 1,400m, rice that is black and red and violet, rice that yields 10 tons if we feed it. We have IRRI, PhilRice, 130k genebank, 1,001 varieties. We imported 4.81M tons last year. We exported 106 tons in 2013. The gap between 4.81M and 106 is not science. It is will. 48

Back Matters References, tools, thank yous References Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Import Data 2019-2025. PSA OpenStat Palay Production. PhilRice PalayStat System v3. IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank. NSIC Variety Catalogue 2024. RCEF Accomplishment Report 2023. Aquino, B.S. SONA 2012 transcript. Alcala, P.J. DA Press Release July 23, 2013 — 45MT export to Singapore. Gallery by Chele menu notes 2024. Eighth Wonder import records. IPOPHL GI Manual. 49

50 NSIC National Seed Industry Council, releases varieties as Rc + number Salinas PhilRice salt-tolerant series, 20 varieties, tolerance 6-10 dS/m Tinawon Heirloom from Ifugao, “once a year,” 160-180 days Unoy Kalinga heirloom, soft, red/white Ominio / Balatinaw Mountain Province black rice, anthocyanin-rich Mabango PhilRice aromatic line, Rc218 etc., 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline DAS Days After Seeding AWD Alternate Wetting and Drying, water-saving GI Geographical Indication FOB Free On Board, price at origin port Glossary

Rice Ratio Wash Rest Rc222 Sinandomeng 1:1.5 2x 10m Mabango 3 Dinorado 1:1.0 1x gentle 15m lid closed Basmati soaked 1:1.5 4-5x 10m Basmati pasta 1:6 drain 4-5x +30m soak 40m dum Japonica 1:1.2 3x +30m soak 15m Tinawon / Unoy / Ominio 1:1.8-2.2 2-3x +15-30m soak 10-15m Water Ratio Chart — Cut & Keep 51

Acknowledgments To PhilRice Muñoz breeders who answered our dumb questions, to Aling Nita in Gubat who showed me Salinas alive, to Mang Joe in Atok who grew Japonica 7 at 7 tons and said “mas malagkit, mas mahal,” to Chele Gonzalez for the 10- course heirloom dinner, to Eighth Wonder for proving US market exists. To my mother who still clicks the cooker at 6:42 a.m., to my niece who prefers Yoshinoya rice and made me write Chapter 6. To the 2M RCEF farmers whose 4.36 average is not failure but underfunding, to IRRI genebank staff who keep 130k seeds at -18°C for a day we may need them, to Quezon City palengke vendors who told me 27 names for Rc222. And to Meta AI for the assistance in crafting the manuscript. 52

About the Author Clifford A. Paragua is from Quezon City. Among others, he writes about food, trade, and frustration. This is his first pocketbook about rice. He cooks biryani badly but with correct water ratio. He can be reached at cliffparagua@gmail.com — but you may actually find him at Muñoz market, asking “Anong field name nito?” 53