BATAC CITY— The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) here launched Tuesday the first paddy art in Ilocos region as a tribute to the many contributions of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos in Philippine agriculture.
Dubbed as FEM 101, the paddy art, which is established at the northern portion of the university’s twin gates, is also a prelude to the province’s celebration of Pres. Marcos’ 101st birthday on Sept. 11. The paddy art is expected to show the face of Marcos by September 11 when the plants shall reach their early vegetative stage.
A rice paddy art is a work of art, in which gigantic pictures are drawn on the rice field that serves as canvas with mixed varieties of rice plants instead of paint.
Its detailed description and high artistic quality bring a large number of tourists. It is a technique that entails selecting a good rice field that can be used as canvas in planting rice seeds of different colors to create a picture. This form of art began in Japan in 1993 as a means of regional economic revitalization
MMSU President Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis said MMSU and PhilRice have agreed to launch a paddy art as another way of recognizing the former president, who was behind the establishment of the two agencies through Presidential Decree 1279 and Executive Order 1061, respectively.
In a ceremonial planting held Tuesday at the prepared site, Dr. Agrupis said the two agencies are not only seeking to unite productivity with creativity – using two excellent varieties of rice – “but we also offer this as a tribute to the former president who was behind the establishment of the two agencies that have become very dynamic with significant contributions in agriculture.”
“We are here to acknowledge the efforts of President Marcos, a visionary whose administration was dubbed as the Golden Age of Philippine Agriculture,” Dr. Agrupis said emphasizing that the former president’s Masagana 99 program has become an instrument to promote growth in the agriculture sector.”
The MMSU and PhilRice created the rice paddy art using IR 1552, a traditional purple rice variety; and PSB Rc82, which is a high-yielding inbred variety.
The former is a Korean rice variety and is being used by PhilRice, both as breeder variety and art. The latter is a high-yielding variety that is commonly planted by farmers. It has a maximum yield of 7.6 tons per hectare and is resistant to blast and tungro diseases; and pests such as brown plant hopper, green leafhopper, and stem borer.
To create the paddy design, the planters used the anamorphosis principle, a technique used in 3D art where a picture looks distorted but appears normal when viewed from a certain angle.
“We used the face of President Marcos as our design specimen for the paddy art and through Photoshop, we were able to incorporate the design in the dimension of the field,” one of the PhilRice-Batac staff said.
The PhilRice design artists adjusted the image to the vantage point of the viewing area and they processed it into grids to determine where to plant the rice varieties on a certain coordinate in the field.
“It’s like we are doing cross stitches using rice seedlings,” beamed the planters who composed mostly of MMSU students taking up agriculture courses.
“Featuring the face of Marcos is just one of MMSU and PhilRice’s strategies to encourage students to take up agriculture and challenge the researchers to develop technologies for increased rice productivity and value adding,” Dr. Agrupis said, adding that by doing so, “we might also encourage government officials to enact legislation and implement programs that would benefit the agriculture sector.”
The rice paddy art will also become part of MMSU’s eco-tourism effort in attracting local and foreign tourists, who perennially come to the province and to MMSU. It is hoped that the activity will become sustainable in the coming years, Agrupis added. –PNA
