The Regional Cultural Hub project in Banat-i Hill in Tagbilaran City. (Contributed photo)
The province of Bohol this week marked the 25th edition of its annual Ubi Festival, an event celebrating the Bohol-grown purple yam, with officials outlining plans to seek intellectual property protection for the prized crop and expand agricultural production.
The three-day festival, held at Tagbilaran City’s Plaza Rizal from Dec. 3-5, featured exhibits from 19 towns, though the host capital city did not participate this year, said Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog.
Quirog, speaking over DYTR, attributed Tagbilaran’s absence to a possible inability to consolidate its harvest.
The town of Dauis also could not join as its tubers were immature.
“This public clamor for accessibility prompted our move to Plaza Rizal, bringing our producers closer to consumers,” Quirog said.
The province is progressing with an application to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to patent the name “ubi kinampay” specifically for the sweet, aromatic variety from Bohol.
Quirog said other provinces have filed similar claims, but Bohol’s application is advancing.
“Authentic kinampay comes from Bohol alone,” she said.
Kinampay, which commands a premium price, is the more popular variety among several grown on the province.
The festival aims to become a venue for presenting research and best practices for the root crop, Quirog added.
Beyond ubi, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) is distributing fish cages in areas like Ubay to promote aquaculture, with plans to expand to Dauis.
The goal is to increase fish supply to mainland Bohol and potentially ease retail prices.
“We are focusing on production,” Quirog said, noting the OPA lacks regulatory power to address allegations of fish cartels.
On rice, Quirog said buyers in Bohol are not adhering to the government-mandated floor price for palay (unmilled rice), ranging from Wet-23/kg, Dry-30/kg pesos per kilo.
She pledged to work with regulatory bodies to penalize violators.
Bohol maintains a rice sufficiency level of 92% and supplies about 72% of the total rice demand for Central Visayas (Region 7), according to OPA.
The national government’s rice buyback program sells subsidized rice at 36 pesos per kilo in the province.
The festival’s theme this year is “Ubi’ ng Bol-anon: Tinubdan sa Pagkaon, Garbo sa Kulturang Bol-anon” (The Boholano Ubi: Source of Food, Pride of Boholano Culture).