Rice festivals as means of agricultural extension?

Extension, owing to its 15 percent contribution on rice self-sufficiency, is a priority project in agricultural development. However, despite innovations in traditional and online extension methods, the country's goal to be rice self sufficient remains a dream. Rice festivals as potential extension model are yet to be explored. With agriculture trade shows common in the festivals, they become a venue for agricultural knowledge and promotion of new technologies. Moreover, the lavish food served especially to the outsiders can serve as a platform for promoting healthy and safe food production in response to climate change and globalization. Agricultural festivals were studied as they provide a powerful window on presenting agriculture to a wide, diverse audience across the country and the world. It is also important to note that age-old festivals in the country follows the cycle of agricultural season that is traced to as far back as the goddess worshipping cultures, and on to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Using content analysis based an ethnographic observation and interviews, narrative were extracted from the following festivals : Pahiya in Lucban, Quezon; Carabao-Carroza in Pavia, Iloilo; and Kuligligan in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. The festivals were selected as their institutionalization provides a wide range of agricultural perspectve starting from the 16th century until 2014. The study noted the progression of agriculture system from solely rice (Pahiyas) to the use of carabao (Carabao- Carroza), and farm mechanization (Kuligligan). Results also showed that commercialism, youth participation, pressure of tourism, and agricultural progress influenced festivals representations to the communities and the outsiders; thereby, affecting their impact as agricultural extension modality. Results further show that festivals can be a force in agricultural development provided that the theme is focused on the importance of sustaining agriculture rather than merely displaying the town's products.