permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

http://nikeprogramme.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111%3Apingkol-dilemma&catid=82%3Anike-team-researches&Itemid=99

*ENDANGERED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN IFUGAO TRADITIONAL RICE PRODUCTION: The
Pingkol Dilemma*

by Armand N. Camhol



This paper discusses an Ifugao “best practice”-the *pingkol*. Pingkol are
vegetable mounds found in the rice terraces during fallow season of the
Ifugao traditional rice cycle. The research which included interviews and
periodic site visits shows that the practice is on its way to extinction.
Causes are the introduction of alien life species to the Ifugao biosphere
and changes in farming methods. Drastic measures are required to arrest and
reverse its impending death.


 Of the often overlooked parts or aspects of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT)
is the pingkol (Lit. “rounded”). These are mounds of decaying plant material
primarily rice stalks, ricefield waternymph (*Najas graminea) or “bagiw” *in
the Ifugao Tuwali language, flating fern (*Azolla pinnata) *or *“halibubu”,
*water hyacinths, duckweed and other leafy succulent plants which are made
by farmers during the rice cycle’s fallow season and planted with an
assortment of vegetables like pechay, cabbage, spring onions, garlic,
legumes and others.