SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ – Mayor Vico is in the farm!
The youthful Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto whose response to the pandemic earned the heart of netizens is the face of creative farming in this year’s paddy rice art inside the 5-hectare Future Rice Farm at Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Barangay Maligaya here.
Sotto’s face that comes with the sun and three starts was featured based on the results of the survey this year, according to PhilRice which conducts a survey every cropping season on who or what its stakeholders wish to feature.
“Mayor Vico Sotto represents the young leaders rising up to build a bright and prosperous future for our nation in the best way they can. His recent selection as one of 12 global anticorruption champions by President Biden’s administration affirms his excellence on transparent leadership,” PhilRice noted.
But Sotto, son of veteran actor–comedian Vic to actress Coney Reyes, has his hand in agriculture. His office recently co-organized with the Department of Agriculture and the youth group Re-TERRA an architectural design competition to promote urban agriculture.
He also had augmented the city’s vegetable supplies by buying from Benguet farmers.
According to PhilRice, Future Rice Farm was established to showcase technologies that increase the income of rice farmers and improve productivity. It’s a farm that is automated, connected to apps, and planted with high-yielding modern varieties. Some of the technologies featured here include water quality monitoring system, automatic water gates, and drone seeding.
The creation of rice paddy art, which combines agriculture, art and advocacy started in 2015 under the leadership of the late Roger Barroga as the need for young Filipinos to venture into agriculture.
Using green-leafed and purple-leafed rice varieties, FutureRice draw images of famous personalities on the rice paddy.
The artworks were created using anamorphosis technique so that visitors can view the image in perfect proportion from the ground level. The image is then pixelized to create a planting guide, in which one pixel is equivalent to one rice plant. Every season, at least 40 PhilRice employees work together to plant the rice paddy art.
This novel way of merging art and agriculture was created to showcase the creativity and innovativeness in rice farming to the Filipino youth and the public.
Interest in the rice paddy art and FutureRice Farm “boomed” nationwide when the AlDub Rice was showcased in 2015. In just a month, FutureRice’s post about AlDub Rice garnered almost 9,000 likes and 87,000 reach. Aside from just appreciating photos in social media, the public visited PhilRice to view the rice paddy artworks then learn about modern farm technologies during their tour.
“This is now part of my bucket list – to plant rice! This project is exceptional. You just encouraged people like me to be more involved in rice planting,” one netizen said on Facebook.
Aside from AlDub, the rice paddy art has featured famous personalities including Fernando Poe Jr. and Coco Martin of Ang Probinsyano; Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla; Miss Universe Catriona Gray; Philippine Pop Princess Sarah Geronimo; and Piolo Pascual. The rice paddy art has been picked up by national TV and newspapers, further spreading its message that agriculture can be fun, innovative, and creative.
“This is a good advocacy in encouraging us to support the agricultural sector. I hope we can raise the level of discourse as to how we can help improve the lives of our farmers,” said Senator Grace Poe when she visited PhilRice to view the Ang Probinsyano rice paddy art in 2016.
Through the rice paddy art, youth learns that agriculture is not all toil and sweat. Modern technologies such as the use of drone and automation devices make farming easier and more profitable.
“Rice farming is not only for agriculture graduates. It transcends all fields. The FutureRice farm taught me that even people in the information technology can help our farmers by developing mobile applications suited for farming,” said Jan Arnel P. Landingin, a student from Central Luzon State University (CLSU).
The agency believes that the rice paddy art also raises awareness and appreciation to our rice farmers and the important role they play in everyday Filipino lives.
A netizen posted on Facebook: “Sobrang nakakaiyak, a good sign na kapag kakain ka ngayon ng bigas, iisipin mo kung paano pinaghihirapan yun ng mga magsasaka.”
Four years after its launching, it’s heart warming that the artworks featured in the paddies of FutureRice Farm continue to spark interest in sustaining engagements in agriculture.
