Aside from the housewives and all other locals of Cagayan de Oro City, non-government organizations (NGOs) are also adversely affected by the reported rice shortage.
Gugma sa Kabataan Inc., a non-government organization (NGO) that provides street children assistance with schooling, medical and health care and as well as family integration, voiced out on how difficult it has been for them to get along with the tides amid this crisis.
The NGO provides one meal a day, five times a week to 35 children.
Illuminada Domingo of Gugma sa Kabataan Inc. shares about how abrupt the rice crisis occurred over in a couple of days.
"I remember buying red rice at P25 per kilo last March 15, and in about three or four days, it already sells at P29 a kilo." she relates.
After the prices started to hike, Domingo was left with no choice but to opt for the cheapest white rice.
Although she earnestly wishes to provide red rice for the kids since she believes this was more apt for the children's health, there is hardly even any funding to spare for viand.
With 35 mouths to feed, a sack of rice only lasts for two weeks.
She and the kids at Gugma sa Kabataan Inc. do not believe that there really is rice shortage in the country.
"Kung naa man gani shortage, makita na in a number of years (If there really is rice shortage, it should be noticeable over a number of years)," Domingo said. "But kani, kalit man ang pag-abot (But this shortage came quite hastily)."
Ask any of the children there and they would answer in raised voices with so much emotion that the current president should be blamed.
An eight-year-old boy would confidently tell you that he firmly believes corruption is the root of this shortage. "Si Gloria man kurakot. Gitagoan ang bugas (Gloria is corrupt, she is responsible for rice hoarding)." says the child.
Although Domingo also entertains the possibility that a shortage is genuinely occurring, however, she doesn't think that such is caused by land conversion or climate change.
"These are just secondary factors, I believe that corruption, hoarding is causing this crisis," she said.
Now, all she and the children of Gugma sa Kabataan Inc. could do is to hope for more kind and generous hearts for them to get by this plight.
The Lutheran World Relief, an international funding NGO, also shares how the rice crisis has affected their operations.
Lutheran World Relief is an NGO, which provides funds for different developmental community-based projects in Mindanao.
Some projects that are agri-based and particularly focused on rice production are experiencing drastic changes in the course of implementation.
"Tanan participant farmers sa projects affected sa shortage (All participant farmers of our projects are affected by the shortage)," said Antonette Guillermo, Lutheran World Relief's country program manager.
Guillermo added that several revisions in activities in the project areas had been implemented to counter the shortage in production as the demand continues to rise.
Local small-scale rice farmers would prioritize their families' consumption over the needs of others, so there was naturally a decrease in production, said Guillermo.
The funding for projects was never a problem; yet money could not do anything to remedy the shortage in production.
