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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Agri chief calls for global rice buffer stocks (5 p.m.)
MANILA -- Agriculture chief Arthur Yap proposed Wednesday the creation of an international rice buffer stock to ensure global food security amid surging prices.
Yap said the stockpile could be initiated by the United Nations or the World Bank to prevent sharp increases in rice prices.
"It's time to put up an international buffer stock, perhaps with a special drawing rights system that would be available to any country in the world," Yap told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said hyper inflation threatens many countries right now, and "it's in the best interest of the world that we work together for stability in rice prices."
Yap's comments came after the Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, failed to buy all the grain it sought in an April tender despite agreeing to pay 62 percent more than at a similar tender just a month ago.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday the country will need to keep importing rice until at least 2013 to make up for a 10 percent domestic shortfall.
Arroyo said the Philippines might not be able to achieve rice self-sufficiency until then because "we really cannot put attention to long-run policy when we have a near-term solution that we need to address." (AP) |
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