Solon promotes ‘kamote ’ as rice alternative

The Department of Agriculture and restaurant owners should consider sweet potato or "kamote" as an alternative to rice, primarily now that there is a looming shortage of rice supply next year, a House leader said Tuesday.

Former Health Secretary and Iloilo Representative Janette Garin stressed that it is high time for the DA to heavily promote the sweet potato as a substitute, citing farmers' group warning of a potential rice crisis in 2023 as a result of high agricultural input costs.

"Our fondness for rice draws from our having been eating it since childhood and our meals having been designed to complement rice, but it's high time we changed our attitude towards both rice and root crops," said the solon.

Contrary to the adage "rice is life," the House deputy leader said, "we encourage restaurants to try using kamote in place of rice and even French fries. What we need today are innovations in the kitchen."

Garin explained that rice's nutritional worth could not be compared to sweet potato, which is high in fiber and is one of the healthiest foods one can consume to prevent cancer, while rice breaks down into sugar in the body, increasing the risk of diabetes.

According to the lawmaker, one way of doing this is to boost root crop output and spend appropriately on marketing, food technology and agricultural research.

She even proposed incentives to food establishments serving kamote.

Citing data showing 1 in 14 Filipino individuals have diabetes, Garin, who served as Health's secretary from 2015 to 2016, has warned against eating too much rice.

According to a certain study, white rice consumption has already been linked to a 1.5 percent higher risk of developing diabetes.

"Kamote can bring back health and keep some health problems at bay. As medical studies have shown, kamote lowers hypertension, bad cholesterol, and even blood sugar when taken as a substitute for rice," she pointed out.

The legislator, meantime, made it clear that she is not promoting the entire abandonment of rice but rather the inclusion of root crops in one's diet because root crops are beneficial to general nutrition.