PHILIPPINE CONSULATE IN JEDDAH MARKS
NATIONAL RICE AWARENESS MONTH
Reciting the Panatang Makapalay in unison during its flag-raising ceremony today, the officers and personnel of the Consulate General in Jeddah launched its month long marking of the National Rice Awareness Month. This is pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 524 s.2004 that seeks to promote RICEponsibility in each andevery Filipino by being “RICEponsible”. Being “RICEponsible” contemplates being non-wasteful of rice, eating of brown rice, mixing rice with other staples and valuing the hard-work of our farmers.
For the entire month of November, the Consulate’s officers and staff will recite the Panatang Makapalay during the flag raising ceremony at the start of the work week. Activities to encourage Filipinos in the Kingdom and its personnel to brown rice (Brown Rice Day, 14 November and Rice-Corn Mix Day, 21 November) have been scheduled. Support of Filipino organizations in conducting activities parallel to promoting the RICEponsibility campaign will be solicited. The Consulate’s website and FB page will also be aggressively advocating RICEposibility.
The BE RICEponsibility advocacy campaign is pushing every Filipino to be rice–ponsible. According to PhilRice data, Filipinos waste an average of 2.5 tablespoons of rice daily, which result in a total of P6.2-billion rice thrown away every year. This is enough to feed 2.6 million Filipinos every year. With the year 2013 dubbed as the “National Year of the Rice (NYR) through Presidential Proclamation No. 494”, the Department of Agriculture (DA) also plans to tap lawmakers to enact, formulate and issue policies and laws for wiser rice consumption. The NYR, through the DA’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP), promotes mixing rice with other staples like kamote (sweet potato), banana, cassava, corn and gabi (taro) as well as brown rice consumption to also improve the health of Filipinos. The celebration also aims at valuing the hard-work of Filipino farmers.
More information on the National Rice Awareness Month and related activities are available at: https://www.facebook.com/RICEponsableAKO/. END.
