Thursday, April 24, 2008 Rice distribution, not shortage problems: group
IS there really a shortage of rice in the country?
For the Philippine Council for Agriculture Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) there is no rice crisis, but it will give alternative crops in
case the shortage will happen.
Dr. Jocelyn Eusebio, PCARRD director for crops research, said that rice harvest this year is greater than in 2007.
“We have higher yield this year. There is no shortage of rice. The issue is on its circulation,” she said.
Edgar Diez of the NFA 7 Information Office also said that there is enough rice, especially for Cebu City.
“There is no shortage in terms of the supply. The prices are increasing because of the increase of the price of fertilizers, pesticides, gasoline, and wage of the workers,” he said.
To pull down prices of commercial rice here, he said, they are selling a new variety at P25 per kilo.
Alternatives
“This variety is called the commercial look-a-like of NFA rice. It is named as such because of its appearance, (which is similar to) glutinous and premium,” Diez said.
“It will be shipped to the region one to two weeks from now,” he added.
Also, Eusebio said their agency has done a lot to increase rice production.
She likewise said that certain crops can be used as alternatives to ensure nutritional security in case of rice shortage.
They include cassava, sweet potatoes, gabi, potato, saba (banana), and corn.
Meanwhile, farmers in Central Visayas have been urged to help increase rice production by employing other schemes in farming such as planting hybrid rice seeds.
Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 Executive Director Ricardo Oblena told a forum yesterday that, though they have sufficient rice supply in their bodegas, planting of “certified seeds” may increase rice production in the country.
Oblena issued the call even as Diez said that the rice price crisis will only stay for a “short time.”
Oblena said that the rice sufficient level (production versus consumption) in Region 7 is about 33 percent.
The entire Cebu has three percent rice sufficient level because it merely depends on importation.
Diez said that NFA recently received 1.7 million bags of imported rice.
With this, the rice supply for the region may last until the last week of November this year.
The NFA also blamed the high rice prices to the farm inputs, labor and gas increase in the market.Karen D. Nacario/UP Mass Comm Intern/GMD
