Good news, fellow! The rice paddy art featuring the face of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos is now officially open for public viewing! 

Using purple and green varieties of rice as paints, the rice field situated at the northern portion of the University’s twin gates acts as a canvas where the face of FEM was designed using 3D anamorphosis principle. Also, north of it lies the 7-point agenda of the new MMSU administration under President Shirley C. Agrupis dubbed as ACHIEVE.

In the ceremonial transplanting held last August 14, PhilRice officials, as well as research and extension workers, and students led by MMSU officials, jointly completed the rice paddy demonstration area. During the program, President Shirley C. Agrupis said that the two agencies are not only seeking to unite productivity with creativity using two excellent varieties, but also, this endeavour is a “tribute to the former President who was behind the establishment of the two agencies that have become very dynamic with significant contributions in Philippine Agriculture”. It can be recalled that MMSU was established through PD 1279 merging seven learning institutions into a comprehensive University, and Executive Order 1061 establishing PhilRice. Moreover, she said that “we are here to acknowledge the efforts of President Marcos, a visionary whose administration was known as the Golden Age of Philippine Agriculture” with emphasis on FEM’s Masagana 99 program instrumental in promoting growth in the agriculture sector of the country.

The rice paddy art is a work of art of creating gigantic pictures using different colored rice plants with subjects visible in an aerial view. Originally from Inakadate village in Japan in 1993, this mean to bring tourism in a rice-growing village was known as ‘tanbo art’. In the country, PhilRice utilized the 3D anamorphosis principle to marry agriculture and contemporary art through technology, allowing viewers to see the subject from a certain angle. With their design artists, the image was processed into grids to determine where the rice seedlings should be planted on a specified grid coordinate in the field. IR 1552, a traditional Korean purple rice variety, and PSB Rc 82, a high-yielding inbred variety, were used as the paints for the rice paddy. According to Mr. Nehemiah Caballong of PhilRice Central Experiment Station (CES), the image is expected to be seen after 30 days, upon which the seedlings have already reached its greening vegetative stage.

And today, September 11, 2018, the very own governor of the province, Hon. Imee R. Marcos, and her three sons, together with provincial and municipal officials, graced the paddy area as part of FEM’s 101^st birthday celebration after a thanksgiving mass and wreath laying ceremony. The honourable governor commended the gift of the two institution, saying that this paddy art would have been a gift the former President would really love and appreciate. With rice and FEM’s reign, she shared of her childhood memories of maintaining eight pesos for a ganta of rice, during which there is rice sufficiency in all household and the country being an importer of rice. And recognizing the chaos in the sufficiency of rice in the country today, she expressed the challenge of reinvigorating the agriculture sector through attracting the youth and mechanizing agriculture with which the administration is supportive of.

FEM being the subject of the first paddy art in the University, PSCA through Dr. Epifania Agustin said that this masterpiece is a befitting gift symbolizing FEM’s humility and being down-to-earth, his intelligence and innovation, and his contributions to agriculture and food security. Likewise, Dr. Reynaldo Castro of PhilRice-Batac said that FEM’s image is an inspiration for rice self-sufficiency, wishing the paddy art be a permanent feature of the University.

Recognizing the importance of revitalizing the agriculture sector for self-sufficiency, the use of paddy art is PhilRice’s response to meet the aging labour force of the agriculture sector and the University’s challenge to researches to develop technologies for increased rice productivity and value-adding. By attracting millennials to go into agriculture, sustaining the agriculture sector is within reach and research-results utilized will mean bigtime development in farming.

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