Dwindling supply of renowned Bario rice

Tuesday July 6, 2010

Dwindling supply of renowned Bario rice

By YU JI
yuji@thestar.com.my


KUCHING: World-famous Bario rice, cultivated on the Kelabit Highlands in Sarawak, has practically cut exports outside the village due to reduced production volume over the last couple of years.

Now, the harvest can barely even meet the local demand.

At its peak, Bario was producing up to 200 sacks of the rice for export, each weighing 35kg. Far-mers told The Star that harvest began to be affected two years ago when the area was hit by drought and again when Bario was flooded last year.
Another reason is that most of the youth from Bario have migrated to towns and cities, in search of jobs and higher income.

Farmer Jerome Giak, 48, said, despite the high prices Bario rice fetched, he had been earning pittance in recent months.

“I can hardly make RM200 a month. So why would the youngsters want to stay behind? I myself have almost given up,” he said.

Locals have now resorted to em-ploying Indonesian labourers from across the border at a higher cost.

A quick check of supermarkets in Miri, the closest city to Bario, revealed that Bario rice was hard to come by.

A restaurant in Miri with some Bario rice, refused to sell their stock to walk-in customers, saying it is reserved for restaurant customers only.

Cultivating Bario rice is labour intensive. Grown on the cool climates of the highlands, which is about 1km above sea level, locals say the use of traditional hand-grown techniques give the rice its unique flavour.