FARMING

Jiwaka Rice now on shop shelves

By JINA AMBA
JIWAKA has been has been growing, harvesting, milling, packing and selling rice for a few years now.
Jiwaka Rice (brand name) is milled, processed and packed at Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) outside Banz town and is sold in stores in the province and also the neighboring provinces. It is gaining popularity among consumers already.
CLTC farm manager Simon Elel said formerly the rice grown and packaged there was branded Waghi Rice but when Jiwaka Provincial Government signed a memorandum of agreement with CLTC in 2018 to fund the rice programme, then they changed the name to Jiwaka Rice.
Since receiving funding from the provincial government, Elel has been conducting short basic training for the farmers on planting and harvesting rice.
Under this partnership between the college and the provincial government farmers bring grow their own rice but take it to CLTC for processing for free as funding is available.
CLTC also grows its own rice but Elel also goes out to villages in Jiwaka and trains local farmers on how to plant, harvest and dry rice.
Farmers in Jiwaka bring their rice to CLTC for milling, processing and packing on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Sometime local growers give some of their rice to CLTC especially when they bring their produced to be milled and packaged at the college.
It is understood that a lot of growers in Jiwaka have shown interest in growing rice but the only problem is transporting their harvested crop to the CLTC mill to be milled and packed. Without transport assistance especially for the growers, they are unable to transport their rice from their planting sites to CLTC for milling and processing.
Elel said the college has asked the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to provide them a vehicle for this purpose.
He said if the department responds favourably with a truck, the college would use it to go out to all rice-growing villages and buy rice from farmers and bring it back to CLTC to process and package it.
A delivery truck is part of CLTC’s dream to expand its rice production capacity. Without a truck to visit rice growers in their villages, the college has been only receiving produce from farmers who could afford to hire their own transport to deliver their dried rice to the college for milling and packaging. Most of these farmers are from outlying rural areas in the province and it is difficult for them to transport their rice in bulk to the location where rice is being milled.
Elel said CLTC would want to increase its production but more funds would be needed. Presently the college is maintaining its production and maintaining the relationship and arrangement with the growers in Jiwaka.
Rice farmers are from as far as Minj, Jimi, South Waghi and other remote areas in the province.
The rice programme is ongoing and expanding as more farmers are involved. They need to increase the volume of production to meet transport costs and other related expenses to motivate growers.
Funding is also needed to buy seeds from the growers.
The CLTC milling machine that is being used now is a second hand one that breaks down often and requires regular maintenancet.
“If a new machine is bought it will help the farmers a lot,” Elel says.
“Jiwaka Rice is sold in the province and has also gone to other centers like Mt Hagen and parts of Chimbu and Southern Highlands.”
It is currently retailing at K4 per kilogram packet.
There are plans to pack and sell 5kg and 10kg bags as well when production is increased in the coming months. However, that depends a lot on interventions like a truck and even a new milling machine for the college to use.
Jiwaka’s fertile land has been proven to be suitable for rice cultivation. The willing and hardworking farmers and the CLTC only need further assistance from government to improve and increase production.
Rice can also be a staple theprovince can fall back on in times of natural disasters as other crops like sweet potato cannot be stored for long periods.

What to know about rice

RICE (Oryza sativa) is one of the oldest cereal grains in the world, and people have grown it for at least 5,000 years.
Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population, and 90 per cent of the world’s rice comes from Asia.
There are thousands of types of rice, but depending on how producers process them, they fit into two groups: white or brown (whole grain).
White rice is the most common type, though brown rice offers more health benefits. Brown rice comes in a variety of shades, including reddish, purplish, or black.
Manufacturers make many products from rice, including rice flour, rice syrup, rice bran oil, and rice milk.
This article looks at the nutrition, health benefits, and risks of white and brown rice.

Nutrition
Both white and brown rice contain mainly carbohydrate and some protein, with virtually no fat or sugar.
Cooked rice contains a lot of water, making up almost 70 per cent of its total weight.

Carbohydrate
Rice is primarily composed of carbohydrate, which makes up almost 80 per cent of its total dry weight.
Most of the carbohydrate in rice is starch. Starch is the most common form of carbohydrate in foods.
Starch is made up of long chains of glucose called amylose and amylopectin. Different types of rice have varying amounts of these compounds, which affects the texture of the rice:

• Basmati rice is rich in amylose, meaning it does not stick together after cooking.
• Sticky rice, or glutinous rice, is low in amylose and high in amylopectin, making it sticky after cooking. This makes it ideal for risottos, rice pudding, and eating with chopsticks.

These compounds also affect how easily the body can digest the rice.
The body takes longer to digest high-amylose rice because the amylose slows down starch digestion. In contrast, the body digests sticky rice very easily.
While many people find sticky rice more palatable, quick digestion can lead to unhealthful spikes in blood sugar levels, especially in people with diabetes.
Fiber
Brown rice contains a higher amount of dietary fiber than white rice — 1.6g per 100g. During the processing of white rice, the grain loses the bran, or seed coat, which contains most of the fiber.
The bran contains mainly insoluble fibers, such as hemicellulose, and virtually no soluble fiber.
White and brown rice contain varying amounts of a soluble fiber called resistant starch.
Resistant starch increases butyrate in the gut. Butyrate boosts gut health by reducing inflammation, improving gut barrier function, and reducing the risk of colon cancer.
Brown rice offers more health benefits than white rice.
Both white and brown rice contain mainly carbohydrate and some protein, with virtually no fat or sugar.
Cooked rice contains a lot of water, making up almost 70 per cent of its total weight.
White and brown rice have similar calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and fat content.