Thursday, March 27, 2008 So: The price of less rice By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
THERE’S an equation involved in the supply and demand of rice and if something doesn’t add up, say X-number of bags missing in Y-number of granaries, someone calls out, “Shortage!”
Hearing this, the president issues an executive order directing the public to eat less because a rice shortage can lead to weight loss. Pinoy dieters swear on their streamlined girths that eating less rice or not eating at all has taken a ton off their weight.
The much-quoted line uttered menacingly by Eddie Garcia to Fernando Poe Jr. (who could have been a true-to-life president) in the 1987 blockbuster “Kapag Puno na ang Salop” tells of the rice eater the Pinoy is.
Eddie Garcia (dense to the forecast of a rice shortage): Marami ka pang bigas na kakainin!
FPJ (aware of how uncooked rice tastes): Di ako kumakain ng bigas. Sinasaing ko muna para maging kanin.
Let’s get a grip here. No point in dwelling on a movie that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap might not have seen. The secretary, according to the press dispatch sent Tuesday evening by the Philippine Information Agency, does not believe there is a rice shortage.
What is real, Yap was quoted by PIA as saying, is that the price of rice has gone up because of “high fuel prices, lower global production due to climate change, rising demand due to overpopulation, and the 150 percent increase in the price of fertilizers.”
Those of us living in the Visayas need not fear: there will be enough rice to last us for two to three months, if we are to believe the National Food Authority (NFA).
Reports quoting different NFA offices say that Central Visayas has a 90-day buffer of 600,000 bags, Western Visayas has about 4.2 million bags good for 72 days and Leyte has “sufficient supply.”
The figures are only for NFA rice, which the government supplies and sells cheap but which some retailers in Cebu now sell at P25 per kilo or 38 percent higher than last month’s P18. There are other kinds of rice—Vietnamese, Thai, Pakistani, Anne, ganador, etc.—that are available in the market but are not as cheap as NFA rice.
In Central Visayas, the 600,000 bags as buffer supply means that if the regular supply gets depleted and is not replenished promptly, some 200,000 bags per month for three months can be made available to the 5.7 million people living in Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor until the regular supply arrives. In lowest term, this means 1.75 kilos per month or 58.3 grams per day per individual.
In Western Visayas, the six-province region has 875,000 bags every month for 2.4 months that are available for consumption by the 6.1 million people living in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Guimaras. In lowest term, this means 7.1 kilos per month or 236.6 grams per day per individual.
Several conclusions can be drawn from the Central and Western Visayas comparison. One, the Cebuano will lose weight faster than the Ilonggo. Another, I could be mis-appreciating the figures.
In Leyte, rice supply is “sufficient” to last until Terminator 5 comes along. In this case, let us all move to Leyte, particularly to Saint Bernard town where Joel Garganera, the Lance Armstrong of Tinago, is said to be making a difference in the lives of the Guinsaugon flood victims who, like FPJ, make saing their bigas.
