Siaton: The “Rice Bowl” of Negros Oriental
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Have you been to Siaton?
If you’re living in Negros Oriental you know that almost all of the land owners from every city or town prefer to convert their lands into sugar cane plantation. It is because sugar cane business has been proven to bring wealth to all “hacienderos”. In fact, if you travel from Bayawan City to Canlaon City you can see sugar cane plantation on every side of the road.
However, one town proved itself to be the exception—Siaton. Siatanons concentrate on planting rice and they are the masters of it. The matter of fact is that 35% of Siaton’s lands, from barangay Omanod to barangay Bonbonon, are rice fields. That’s why Siaton is known to be the “rice bowl” of Negros Oriental.
People that I have talked to said that planting rice is better than planting sugar cane; rice don’t need big amount of money, big equipment and can be harvested every three to four months. Indeed, rice is good for small-time farmers.
When the Philippines was experiencing rise crisis, we and others living in Siaton weren’t able to experience the hardships of buying high-priced NFA rice. We had abundant of high-class rice on our tables. And that is just one of the many advantages of living in Siaton.
In the years to come, Siaton would be the town to supply rice to the whole Negros Province. In fact, many rice businessmen from other cities are contacting the small-time farmers in Siaton to buy their harvests.
And if the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Siaton will support these farmers, Siaton can boost its production of rice every year. As of the moment, there are no cooperatives which would cater the needs of the farmer’s of Siaton. I believe those kinds of establishments are needed in the town.
But let us just hope that LGU will not close its eyes for these farmers because Siaton has a reputation to live with; the rice bowl of Negros Oriental.
