Ilocos indigenous food plants face extinction - study

MANILA, Philippines –  Many of Ilocos Norte’s indigenous food plants (IFP) are facing extinction.

This can be attributed to insignificant efforts to safeguard and conserve these vanishing plant species, noted a research team of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), a multi-campus tertiary institution in Ilocos Norte whose main campus is in Batac City.

“Initiatives from local residents prove insufficient in protecting IFPs from extinction,” reported Menisa Antonio, Epifanio Agustin, Dionisio Jamias, Rodel Utrera, Araceli Badar, and Miriam E. Pascua in their research titled “Survey and Characterization of Indigenous Food Plants in Ilocos Norte, Philippines”.

The study was supported by the Los Baños-based, government-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) through its Seed Fund for Research and Training (SFRT).

SEARCA, headed by Director Gil G. Saguiguit Jr., is one of the 19 regional “centers of excellence” of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), an intergovernment treaty body founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture.

The MMSU study focused on plant genetic resources with emphasis on IFPs.

It found that IFPs are an integral part of the daily diets of many poor rural households in Ilocos Norte, especially among the tribal groups such as the Tingguian, Isneg, Igorot, and Yapayao.

The researchers documented 46 IFPs representing 25 plant families found in the province. The plants included herbs, farms, shrubs and undershrubs, vines or lianas, palms, grasses, and trees in seven upland and remote towns.

Some of the IFPs were also found in agricultural areas.

Most (79 percent) of the identified IFPs abound in Adams town. The other IFPs-rich towns are Bangui, Nueva Era, Vintar, Pagudpud, Dumalneg, and Carasi.

“Despite possible genetic erosion brought about by adverse environmental changes, there are still insignificant efforts to conserve and safeguard this component of agrobiodiversity,” the MMSU researchers reported.

They asserted: “Therefore, there is a need to encourage all concerned stakeholders for possible collaboration toward sustainable conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources (PGR).”

They reported that the subsequent promotional efforts done by the SEARCA-supported MMSU study led to recognition of the benefits of IFP and the resolve of local communities to use conservation practices of these PGR.

The researchers recommended that academic and research institutions should undertake more studies on IFPs (such as their nutritive components and development of new recipes and processed products).

There should also be wider IEC (information, education, communication) campaign on the importance of IFPs and how people can help in conserving them. Moreover, local governments should promulgate policies and ordinances pertaining to IFPs, such as conservation of the habitats of endemic or rare plant species, ban of mass collection and export of unique species, and establishment of community genebanks or seedbanks.

The MMSU researchers further recommended that the Department of Education (DepEd) should integrate IFPs in gardening in elementary and high schools in Ilocos Norte.