‘A voice for Kalinga's small farmers’: Gonnay dedicates 2026 Terra Madre Salone del Gusto award to Heirloom Rice growers

FEATURE

Turin, Italy - A 58-year-old iPasil received the prestigious award during the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2026 in Turin, Italy, recognizing her work in promoting traditional Kalinga food, heirloom rice varieties, biodiversity, and sustainable food practices.

For Rowena B. Gonnay,  from Dangtalan, Pasil, Kalinga, the ByungSoo Kim Award is more than a personal achievement. It is a recognition she wants to carry home to the small farmers of Kalinga who continue to plant heirloom rice, preserve traditional food, and keep an ancestral food system alive.

The recognition was given by Slow Food International, and was recieved by the President to Slow Food Negros Reena Gamboa, along eith the Director of Terra Madre Asia and the Pacific.

In an interview, Rowena shared that she was originally scheduled to travel to Italy and take part in the Terra Madre opening activities, including serving as the flag bearer for Slow Food Philippines, meeting the Italian President, and delivering a talk during the event.

However, she was unable to make the trip after her visa application was denied by the Italian Embassy. She said she received the visa decision at around 6 p.m. on September 22, just a day before her scheduled flight on September 23.

For Rowena, however, the moment was deeply personal.

“When I received a message from Ma'am Reena Gamboa, I cried knowing nga adda award ko, I thank God for it since the Slow Food International acknowledged what we are doing- diay advocacy tayo, diay preservation of other heirloom rice and seeds nga para metlang ken dagitoy incoming generations,” she said.

From Terra Madre to a lifelong advocacy

Behind the award is more than a decade of work.

Rowena is an Assistant Municipal Agriculturist of Pasil and serves as the focal person for organic agriculture in the Municipal Agriculturist’s Office. She is also the acknowledged coordinator of the Pasil Slow Food Community by Slow Food International.

Her journey as a Slow Food advocate began in 2010, after she participated in Terra Madre in Turin.

“Since 2010 after participation of Terra Madre in Turin Italy, I started the advocacy gapo metlang idiay da naadal ko from the messages during the event including the founder of the Slow Food, Carlo Petrini," she said.

The experience strengthened her commitment to preserving Indigenous food and biodiversity. She later brought these lessons to farmers in Pasil through trainings, meetings, and seminars on organic agriculture.

Her advocacy became closely associated with the preservation of Unoy, Chaykot, and Ulikam rice, traditional varieties that were nominated to the Ark of Taste, Slow Food’s catalog of traditional food products at risk of disappearing.

A grain that carries memory

According to Rowena, Unoy rice is not simply a crop, describing Unoy as resilient to drought, adaptable to the local ecosystem, delicious, and aromatic.

“Unoy rice is special because that is our inheritance- isu ti tawid tayo daytoy... it was the rice seeds our ancestors planted ken makagapo nu apay nga napipigsa dagiti ancestors,” she said.

Its value, however, extends beyond the grain itself. Rowena said the continued planting of heirloom rice is connected to the preservation of traditional farming practices and the rice terraces where these practices have been sustained for generations.

She sees a challenge in the fact that some farmers are shifting to other rice varieties, while pests also affect certain aromatic varieties. This is why she considers the award an opportunity to draw greater attention to the farmers behind these crops.

“The advocacy of Pasil Slow Food in preserving our Unoy rice is recognized internationally, especially the recipes that became the livelihood of our farmers. This will also give voices of our small heirloom rice farmers... tapno maipateg ken mabigbig dagitoy iti gobierno, tapno matulongan dagiti mannalon nga mang-preserve kadagitoy a rice varieties, ken para metlang to food security and livelihhod," she said.

Giving farmers a reason to continue

Rowena then dedicated the recognition to the farmers who have continued planting Unoy and other heirloom rice varieties despite the challenges. She believes the recognition can encourage farmers to continue preserving their ancestral food system.

“Congratulations to our Heirloom rice farmers... ammok nga this recognition will give courage to our farmers to continue preserving and sustaining our ancestral food system. If we have no heirloom rice, haan tun nga maamwan dagitoy ubbing- haan dan tu ammo raman na. The rice terraces will also be destroyed if our farming system is changed to conventional because of new rice seeds varieties,” she said.

Traditional food, she said, must also remain part of everyday life if these varieties are to survive, urging young people to appreciate heirloom rice along with locally produced vegetables, fruits, legumes, and herbs. She also encouraged consumers to support local farmers by buying their products.

“To the young people in Kalinga, we have to choose eating our traditional food. We have to buy our local produce to sustain the production and livelihood of our farmers. Nu diay local produce ti farmers tayo ti gatangen tayo, we could even encourage them to preserve more of our rice varieties," she said.

From the rice terraces to the world

Rowena’s participation in Terra Madre also brought Kalinga’s food traditions to an international audience.

Among the foods she was supposed to prepare for the Philippine booth during Luzon Day were inandila, an authentic native snack, and kinalloray, an snack made out of heirloom glutinous rice mixed with native pork.

For Rowena, however, the international spotlight ultimately points back to the farmers in Kalinga, hoping that the recognition will encourage the government, particularly the agricultural sector, to strengthen support for Unoy rice farmers through seed availability, farmer empowerment, production assistance, and marketing support.

“I hope this recognition will ignite the Government specially for agricultural sector to help our farmers who are producing our unoy rice varieties – like seeds availabity, empowered farmers, production of marketing support from the Government,” she said.

From a small farming community in Pasil to an international food gathering in Turin, Rowena’s award has placed Kalinga’s heirloom rice on a wider stage, but for her, its greatest value may be in giving the farmers who have kept these grains alive a stronger voice for the generations to come.