Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Editorials: Facing the rice supply problem
CLOSE on the heels of an increasingly volatile weather condition is the probability that our country’s capability to produce rice and corn would be affected.
This is the reason why President Arroyo tried the other day to allay the nation’s fear of a shortage, assuring the Filipinos that “there is sufficient rice supply.”
The President’s assurance was made after she noted a buffer stock of rice at a National Food Authority (NFA) warehouse in Taguig City.
The stock is reportedly enough to meet the needs of the country’s consumers.
For the country to be stable in supply up to the end of the year, it would need about 4 million metric tons of rice based on a daily consumption of 32,000 metric tons.
Despite the presidential assurance, the country’s leadership is not leaving anything to chance.
The department of agriculture is looking for an additional 50,000 to 80,000 hectares of rice in the Visayas and Mindanao to offset crop production losses in Luzon farms due to prolonged dry spell.
Heartening
This awareness showed by the national government is heartening considering that, historically, the Philippines resorts to rice importation under similar circumstances.
In the ‘60s and ’70s, the country imported thousands of metric tons from Thailand, Indonesia, and Burma (Myanmar).
To think that the Thais learned its rice production technology from us.
The Philippines has always recognized the significance of rice and corn to its own survival.
When the United Nations proposed a rice research project in Southeast Asia some five decades ago, the Philippines offered a site at the UP College of Agriculture in Los Baños.
Today, the International Rice Research Institute is the source not only of rice varieties but also of advanced rice production technologies.
Capability
When rice shortages threatened the country in the second half of the ‘60s, people had to queue for hours to avail of the rice sold through mobile stores by the National Rice and Corn Corp. (Naric), which was later renamed Rice and Corn Authority (now the NFA).
During the martial law years, the Marcos regime spent millions of pesos to improve the rice production capability of Filipino farmers, extending loans to them through the Masagana 99 program and the Masaganang Maisan.
Millions were lost through unpaid loans, causing closure of rural banks, “victims” of Masagana loans rediscounting.
Though the program may have failed, it improved our rice production capability.
