Better Than Rice? Traditional Crops That Taste Good, Can Resist Drought & Floods | Forgotten Palate

[Music] Ancient Grains are plants that have been cultivated for centuries some for even longer providing sustenance and nourishment to communities who cultivated them Ancient Grains are now largely forgotten but might just be the key to helping those communities adapt to a changing climate [Music] the grains are conditioned by Nature trained by their terrain some survive with little water While others Tower above high waters While others bear well with intense temperatures Ancient Grains have adapted to local climates and are better suited to changing weather patterns but many have been lost in the pursuit of modern agriculture now a growing number of small farmers are turning back to tradition and for some they had the last time they'd eaten it was when they were children I know that's true for me but even that memory for me is is rather vague but these memories are starting to return could Ancient Grains help slow down the effects of climate change [Music] [Music] [Music] it was almost 20 years ago go when Maria Loretta abandoned life in the city and what could have been a promising legal career to move here adonara is part of a chain of islands in eastern Indonesia known as [Music] Flores 80% of adonara is Farmland but it's extremely dry coconut trees tend to do well here but they're highly adaptable [Music] plants corn and peanut crops haven't tolerated the changing climate quite as well [Music] [Music] for [Music] in the past farmers were forced to plant rice a staple in Indonesia rice planting in adonara came about from the country's transmigration program started by the Dutch during colonial times the practice continued long after Indonesia gained independence Farmers from densely populated Java were given plots of Farmland in rural Indonesia the aim was to reduce overcrowding in Java and for Farms to provide work and income for Rural residents those early Pioneers transformed the area's landscape the authorities even provided subsidies for fertilizer pesticides and [Music] irrigation but in the the semi-arid landscape of Flores most rice crops failed [Music] the failure of adara's rice Farms would lead to an exodus of Growers especially those trained in working with ancient indigenous grains over time those Ancient Grains eaten here for centuries before the Advent of rice were forgotten sorghum was one of them and it was a key feature in most Aden ain's [Music] diets [Music] for [Music] it wasn't Indonesia alone that lost its indigenous crops in the Philippines indigenous rice varieties were forsaken in favor of higher yielding ones to combat a rice Supply shortage in the 1970s the masagana 99 policy was introduced to increase rice production in the Philippines the authorities sold Filipino Farmers a genetically modified High yielding variety of rice but for it to thrive Farmers needed fertilizers pesticides and other modern farming inputs all of which had to be imported indigenous farming practices which served communities for centuries soon became [Music] forgotten it was aase and the farmers then turned into agricultural workers of very specified roles farming because of that Additionally the the seeds that the farmers has been using before before masagana 9 was virtually erased and was replaced by only a handful of high yielding varieties like our ir8 ir20 and so on so back then the Philippines used to have a 4,000 uh traditional rice varieties and now it was erased in the meantime many Asian countries started exporting high yield rice it soon became cheaper to import rice rather than grow it many farmers in the Philippines struggled with sinking incomes in the wake of masagana 99 the massip Park farmers network was founded in 1985 to promote a holistic approach to agricultural biodiversity as well as to improve the lives of farmers massip pug wanted to revive local indigenous rice and get Farmers to stop planting genetically modified varieties they scoured the Philippines to collect these ancient rice grains to be stored in a seed bank today they have a collection of over 2,000 indigenous rice species that are planted and harvested every year this living seed bank ensures that the seeds stay healthy each seed has unique characteristics that are recorded and studied inputs so [Music] [Music] once harvested the grains are separated the seeds are grouped and packaged ready for distribution to Farmers [Music] as our planet continues to warm some believe that these Ancient Grains might be the key to helping Farmers tackle climate [Music] change you have to be really meticulous in terms of finding the right varieties that will adapt to the specific environment especially to the to the effects of the climate change I do believe in the potential the power of anient grains actually it's not only limited to ancient or traditional grains but to the farmer bread grains basically any grains that is being cultivated being bred by the farmers those are the varieties those are the grains that will really stand the challenge of climate [Music] change [Music] adonara like the other Islands in Flores have an arid climate rice doesn't grow well [Music] here not for the lack of effort among [Music] Farmers but sgum does soon after moving back to adonara Maria was introduced to the grain by her new [Music] neighbor for [Music] intrigued by the grain Maria decided to plant some of her own and was delighted that they grew well despite the Arid [Music] conditions the plant could withstand strong winds unlike rice and only required a fraction of the water rice needed Maria then set off on a mission to introduce sgum to Farmers more and more farmers are getting interested in [Music] [Music] [Music] sorum [Music] yeah Maria has spent the last 13 years evangelizing the merits of [Music] sgum it wasn't easy convincing Farmers sorum was hardly heard of among consumers petranella was the first Farmer in the region to take a chance [Music] [Music] son for for [Music] while parts of Indonesia are extremely dry in the Philippines it's the opposite there is too much [Music] rain some Farmers whose rice fields have been devastated by the floods have moved to the highlands but even here the rain is incessant Ryan damaso is a local advocacy officer for the massip Pug Farmers Network [Music] for the Philippines gets hit by about 20 tropical Cyclones a year and they're getting stronger [Music] to but Ancient Grains are hardier crops and they're now being studied for their ability to adapt to the frequent floods the municipality of raal is on the east coast of the Philippines largest and most populous island Luzon Darius Gango has been a rice farmer all his life he carved out a small section of his field for use as a test Farm in it are a variety of indigenous rice seeds from the massip Pug seed [Music] bank main main Farm verification traditional rice [Music] [Music] rice scien from The Trial Farm Darius will select the two best performing varieties For That season and plant them on a large scale continually assessing the plants in the trial Farm allows Darius to observe which plants adapt better to the changing [Music] climate one of the varieties of rice Darius will always have at the ready is PB PB 402 PBB is made up of the initials of the farmer Papito babasa who bred that variety of rice and the region Bol which is the southern section of Luzon Island it's a variety that is flood resistant drought Farmers that plant these varieties of ancient rice tend to do better than other rice Farmers ancient rice with their better yields could boost the country's food [Music] security according to a 2022 article published by the carnegi endowment the Philippines is the most food insecure country in emerging Asia due to its Reliance on imported food to feed its expanding population the country has consist inst been one of the world's largest importers of rice can Farmers plant a more diverse range of crops to mitigate the effects of climate change and continue to have economically viable [Music] Farms [Music] dear wno teaches in gun kidol a rural farming Village in Indonesia in 2008 she set up what she calls a life school lessons here teach students about the specific Geographic and environmental conditions of their Village this so they can respond to real life problems facing the [Music] community besides climate change the other big problem in the village is the soil [Music] for uh there is water in underground aquifers but accessing those would be too expensive as they're too deep underground farming in gunong kidol has always been a tricky business which most young people have turned away from many have already left for the cities to find other work Generations old wisdoms of farming the traditional way are now in danger of being forever forgotten con inter despite less than ideal conditions lands here have been farmed successfully for years deer wants to impart traditional farming wisdoms to Farmers across the country one such tradition the growing of multiple crops side by side on the same plot for multi-cropping is not only better for the soil but also allows for the plants to shade each other to help reduce moisture loss and if any crop fails Farmers still have other crops to bring to harvest farmers in the village are reverting to these old farming practices and unlearning modern ones involving the use of chemical fertilizers which kill crops that could be mistaken for [Music] [Music] weeds for [Music] the island of SIU in central Philippines was home to the country's first capital it's also where a number of indigenous crops once forgotten are making a comeback this farmer's market features a variety of them Teresa ruelas runs an NGO called communities for alternative food ecosystems initiative or cafei she runs this and several other farmers markets across the city I mean Farm yes good and then so we had we have a lot of in my farm [Music] yes one of our ship uh introduce our sayot chutne uh sayti pickled sayi so no nothing left nothing uht [Music] wasted one of the most popular Ancient Grains in the farmers market and grown in SIU is cabog millet it's a millet grain that was first found scattered in bat caves bats in seano are called Cabo nearly forgotten as a food it has recently been revived one dish containing it is bub Cabo a sweet treat now popular amongst seano households an is Aro and then kabog so ready so this is the traditional way it's eaten it's peeled like a banana and then just eaten straight up so it's a little bit sticky it's a little bit sweet and it's very good so it really became very popular again it used to be popular as I was growing up and then it disappeared and then it has returned thanks to them bringing it to our [Music] markets to doesn't just run farmers markets she also works with Farmers to promote organic and climate resistant farming practices so I think that when we were teaching organic and regenerative farming it brought back for them some of the old practices that they had forgotten and so for example Water Systems simple things like water catchment so they've had to really learn to adjust to the whe weather extremes the climate extremes like having better rain catchment systems and really looking at the land for where water flows and working their way with that where they plant even the the exposure to sunlight intense heat has had them change the way so it's really learning and relearning how to position plants what plants grow best with other plants that will resist certain [Music] insects to protect them against strong typhoon winds hitting the country Millet is usually planted on the edges of farmlands near forests that provide Shelter From The Extreme [Music] winds and now with warming temperatures Farmers rotate their crops frequently much like their ancestors did for centuries GH yeah [Music] Magan Ancient Grains are growing in popularity in the Philippines in the cities they're marketed to Niche consumers those who want organic healthy alternatives but their Revival brings along a new set of challenges for farmers and the rural communities some of the challenges are once word gets out about how great these crops are there's a tendency for international buyers to come in and they're able to purchase them at very high prices which then is good for the business however what it does is it cuts the accessibility for local food producers and for customers to afford to buy their own raw materials as Farmers start to plant more variety ities of Ancient Grains new and interesting Foods could soon enter our diets foods that could be good for us and the planet [Music] too uh Maria and father Benjamin are allies in an ongoing movement to revive Indonesia's Ancient Grains starting with sorum Benjamin heads a Farmers Cooperative that manages crop prices keeping them stable he wants Farmers to earn decent incomes while making sorum affordable for [Music] consumers [Music] [Music] for meanwhile in West Java hel anti Hillman connects people living in the urban centers with the countes Forgotten indigenous Foods the former lawyer had become fascinated with Indonesia's vast diversity of indigenous plants and their Heritage it inspired her to set up a company to distribute them I think the the most difficult part in the beginning because I was I did not know anybody you know so once we get to know the uh the network of the indigenous Community the farmers so it's much easier because they only like tax away you just need tox text message them and say like okay who have this who have that and then we just aggregate that but of course right now it's easier because you know we have the database we have the network we have the you know uh we know this uh these communities so in the beginning it's really about to immerse ourself to get to know these [Music] communities so there is a cross learning among the network of indigenous communities and there is an exchange CH of seedlings seeds which allow them to survive the the changes of the [Music] condition hel and his products are distributed across Indonesia and internationally they've provided a stable and sustainable source of income to local farmers and Artisans and despite them being priced at a premium to support remote small holder Farmers they're catching on with consumers [Music] it's definitely will not be affordable in the beginning so that's why we are targeting a n Market who are willing to pay more either because of the health or uh the mindfulness of being socially and ecologically responsible but as we grow the market gradually then the volume getting bigger and the production cost is getting lower and our product become more and more affordable [Music] you cannot separate between food especially local food with your identity and your culture because basically it shaped the whole social dynamics with it the way that you plant it the rituals the collectivity when you are doing things so for example uh in West Jaffa in the Indigenous Community like kasaan they do the rice growing is more like a rituals and it invol of the whole village so when you stop doing that so the connection between the community also get lost because food connects people so and uh it also represents your identity but I think we have to also understand the nature of how this food is being produced these rural farming communities are changing the way we think about food and our over Reliance on just a few key crops a diverse array of Ancient Grains ensures that rural communities like these can survive and create new economic opportunities for the rest of us these grains are alternatives to our current diets Alternatives that are healthier and more sustainable baung [Music] [Music] the climate change in a way yes it is daunting it affected the the crops but at the same time it forces us to starting looking into a different kind of CR that have resilience to that and actually this is also um the the movement of going back to our heirloom edible plants is actually also driven by trying to find Solutions against the climate [Music] change [Music] [Music]

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Length: 45min 27sec (2727 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023