Wednesday, April 02, 2008 ComVal guv eyes limit to banana lands
AS FEARS of a rice crisis continue to bother the world economy, the province of Compostela Valley is thinking of regulating its land use for banana plantations to limit the rapid conversion of rice lands.
The province's total rice production comprises only 77 percent of its total rice demand. There are a total of 11,000 hectares in Compostela Valley that are planted with rice and 2,000 hectares are non-irrigated. The total number of hectares planted with banana totaled around 13,000 hectares.
Compostela Valley Governor Arturo "Chiongkee" Uy said their palay production last year was only 95,423 metric tons, adding that the shortfall from the rice demand is being sourced outside the province, particularly in Tagum City.
"To be self-sufficient, we need a total of 123,925 metric tons," Uy said.
Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte were the provinces called as Southern Mindanao's rice granary. However, vast tracts of rice lands, specifically in Braulio Dujali town of Davao del Norte have been converted to banana plantations.
In M'lang, North Cotabato, officials are confident that they will not be affected by a rice crisis considering the abundance of their rice produce in the town.
M'lang Mayor Lito Piñol said what they are preparing for now is on how they can avail of good palay and corn prices come harvest season.
"M'lang has abundant supply of rice, nothing to worry. What we are doing here is planning for increasing our support to our farmers to avail of good palay and corn price this coming harvest season," Piñol said.
In Tagum City, Mayor Rey Uy said they have no problem with the supply, but admitted that the price has skyrocketed despite the abundance of it.
"Sa Mindanao kasi di maka sun dry sa rice kay sige'g ulan. It could be because nagtaas pud ang presyo sa rice sa America," Uy said.
In his television program "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" Sunday, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said if the rice crisis would happen, he will be forced to "hoard" the city's rice produce to ensure the food security of Dabawenyos.
"Might as well control the flow of rice in and out of the country. Ako gyud pugngan ang bugas (I will prevent its outflow). That simply means food security," Duterte said.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles meantime supported Duterte's move on restricting flow of rice out of the city. He added that the law on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) must also be revisited so as to exempt "corporate farming" from the coverage.
"Mayor is right. In case of crisis, we should take care of our own people. We need to look into the Carp law and exempt corporate farming from it.
Corporations need to go into agri-food production to feed their own employees especially those who have 300 or more employees," Nograles said. (BOT)
