Producer Organization

This book is situated within the wider discourse of rural livelihoods and agriculture-for-development, and uses the Cordillera Heirloom Rice Project (CHRP) as its main case study. The CHRP is a tripartite partnership between Eighth Wonder, a U.S.-based for-profit business which imports indigenous Filipino rice at at a fairly traded price; RICE Inc, a Filipino NGO that encourages indigenous farmers to form cooperatives and trains them in organic farming techniques; and the indigenous rice terrace farmers of the Cordillera. Aris examines the theoretical aims and approaches of the CHRP, and then analyzes in depth the project's evolution, pinpointing the institutions it is building, the people it is empowering, and the people it is excluding. Based on extensive interview and survey data, she illuminates farmer perspectives on various aspects of the project and the techniques used to measure project success. Aris concludes with an enlightening discussion on the challenges in agriculture-for-development that, despite being frequently overlooked in academic literature, are repeatedly emphasized in her research.