The Wall Street Journal
Banaue, Philippines - Surging rice prices are causing distress across the globe. But they may provide the Ifugao tribespeople with reinforcements in a long, losing battle against giant, civilization-destroying earthworms.
A slithering, silent invasion of worms -- up to 2 feet long and as thick as thumbs -- has been boring into the rice terraces in this misty, mountainous area of the northern Philippines for 40 years. They destroy irrigation systems, erode the soil and ultimately cause the terraces to collapse. Farmers have abandoned a quarter of the ancient, stepped rice paddies that were built over 2,000 years ago.
"These giant worms are trouble," said Jimmy Cabbigat, a 61-year-old Ifugao farmer.
Until recently, rice prices haven't been high enough to enable farmers to finance a sustained counterattack. But with prices breaching historic highs, the Ifugao elders sense their war against the worms is about to turn.
For the first time in years, the holders of the Ifugao tribe's oral traditions -- the mumbakis -- contend that the younger generation has a financial incentive to stay put, plant more rice and defend their terraces against the worms, rather than disappearing to cities or overseas.
Already, youngsters such as 16-year-old Ramon Nabbangal are helping repair damaged terraces, leveling off the steps with a flat, wooden spade and repairing dikes. "Rice is getting expensive to buy so it helps if we grow our own and sell what we don't eat," he says. "It honors our ancestors, too, if we protect the rice terraces."
In another hopeful sign, local entrepreneurs are searching out new markets in the U.S. and Europe for the Ifugao's distinctive, aromatic grain.
"It could be a new beginning for us," says Lunag Tumiguing, a 73-year-old mumbaki, slapping fresh mud on his levies on a recent afternoon. "My family is planting more rice and trying to restore some of the terraces we left to the worms. The price of rice is rising and we can't afford to miss out."
The cost of rice has nearly tripled since the beginning of the year, to a record $1,070 a ton. Flooding and infestations in Vietnam, drought in Australia and growing demand from India and China all have contributed to the surge, as has the boom in growing crops for biofuel.
Sky-God's Gift
According to Ifugao mythology, rice is a gift from the sky-god Hudhud. Anything that enables the tribe to continue cultivating the crop is treated as a development of cosmic significance.
Rice, grown for food or sold mostly to local traders, is the mainstay of life in an area where the average per-capita income is about $1,500 a year. Tribal members live in wooden shacks built on stilts that cling to the side of the mountains.
Tourism is increasing, too. Many younger Ifugaos find tourism an easier living, as they pose in their traditional red G-strings and ornate headgear for photos at a rate of 50 cents a snap.
Amy Binahan, 17, plans to go to college one day to study business administration in Baguio City, about nine hours away by road. But for the time being, she has decided to stay put to help her family shore up their terraces and make the most of the rice boom.
"The situation here is changing and we should work together to make sure we get the most out of the rising prices," she says, leaping among the paddies to check the strength of the dikes holding them up.
Brought in Fertilizer
Nobody knows for sure where the worms came from. They began invading the area in the late 1940s. Abe Lunag, an agriculturalist with the provincial government in the city of Lagawe, says he believes worm eggs were inadvertently brought to the area in bags of fertilizer from Malaysia. Biologists believe the worm is closely related to the Asian Polypheretima elongata species.
"They bore deep into the terraces, turning them into something like Swiss cheese," says Mr. Lunag. "When the rains come, it washes away the soil, and the terrace collapses."
Mumbakis used to gather 23 herbs in the rain forest which they pounded into a noxious paste with a pestle and mortar, then smeared around the levies to keep the worms away. But rampant logging in the surrounding area means the tribal leaders can only find 20 herbs these days, says Mr. Lunag.
"It doesn't seem to work with only 20 herbs," he says.
Farmers planted sunflowers among the rice paddies in the hope that they will make the soil more alkaline and less hospitable to worms. It didn't work. They later tried a variety of pesticides, but the few that worked were soon banned by government regulators for being too toxic. Then the tribespeople tried pounding the ground with large wooden hammers to drive the earthworms away. Again, failure.
Scientists from Manila have urged the Ifugao to try eating the worms to control their population. No way, the Ifugao said. That would be taboo.
Since they can't seem to get rid of the worms, they must learn to live alongside them. Higher rice prices mean the Ifugao have more resources to maintain the terraces and repair damage. That involves plugging holes in dikes as they appear. It's time-consuming, back-breaking work and, until recently, too expensive for many farmers to contemplate.
"Now we've got more of a reason to do it," says Mr. Cabbigat. Recently, he bought another wide terrace from a neighbor for $1,200 to crank up his own rice output.
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