Gantangan
Discover something about this standard unit of measurement used way back Spanish period!
The Rice and Corn Week in the Philippines is observed annually from August 29 to September 5, by virtue of Proclamation No. 304 signed by then-President Diosdado Macapagal in 1964.
The Bohol Provincial Planning and Development Office cites agriculture as the primary sector in terms of the working population and land use, with a total land area of 4,821 sq. kilometers and 45% dedicated to agriculture. Rice, a staple crop, is cultivated in 50,561 hectares and #Corn comes next at 19,347 hectares.
Today, National Museum Bohol features this standard unit of measurement used in the Philippines: Gantang. The origin of the word gantang means a unit of volume, equivalent to one gallon; with sub measurements of four quarts, or eight pints or sixteen cups.
During the late Spanish colonial period, the harvest of rice or humay in Cebuano is measured by gantang using the wooden box called gantangan.
In the 1980s, during harvest season, saltmakers and traders from Alburquerque would travel to the upland towns of Bilar, Batuan, Carmen, Sierra Bullones as well as Loboc to engage in a barter system with farmers, exchanging one (1) whole piece of Asin Tibuok for three gantang of rice.
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