Sunday, May 04, 2008 Arroyo told RP on way to rice self-sufficiency
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was assured on Friday that the Philippines is well on the way to regaining self-sufficiency in rice.
The assurance was made by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Dr. Robert Ziegler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), during her visit to the IRRI in Los Banos, Laguna to witness the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and IRRI entitled "Accelerating Rice Production in the Philippines" at the University of the Philippines (UP).
Yap pointed out that Filipino farmers produce more rice per hectare than their Thai counterparts. Thailand is the world's biggest exporter of the cereal.
He pointed out that the world is experiencing decreasing rice inventory due to raising global demand, climate change, and reduced spending on research and infrastructure.
"The UN-FAO (United Nations-Food and Agricultural Organization) has listed 36 countries, Madame President, this year that will need assistance for being food insecure. Nine in Asia alone but the Philippines, being able to produce about 90 percent of our rice needs, is not on this list," Yap said.
For a time in the early 1970s, the Philippines was self-sufficient in the staple food.
Under the agreement, the DA and IRRI will undertake joint efforts to increase rice production in the Philippines starting this wet planting season by developing new high-yielding varieties and hybrids.
The two agencies will also assess and increase the output of the current rice growing areas, as well develop new areas using geographic information system, remote sensing, crop and climate modeling and other modern farming techniques.
Zeigler noted that despite the present high yield of palay per hectare in the Philippines, many Filipino farm scientists are working on new farming methods and technologies to further increase production of the cereal.
"The much higher yield that the Philippines had compared to the yields of the world's largest exporter, Thailand, is testament to the ingenuity, hard work, and effectiveness of the Department of Agriculture's performance," Ziegler said.
Despite geographical and natural challenges such as typhoons and lack of river deltas, the IRRI said Filipino farmers generally use less pesticides than other Southeast Asian rice farmers and are harvesting almost a ton per hectare, which is higher than the production of their Thai counterparts, he added.
Under the agreement, IRRI and the DA are targeting an average rice harvest of five tons per hectare, which would make Filipino farmers the most productive in Southeast Asia, ahead of Vietnam and Indonesia.
Before the signing ceremony, President Arroyo inspected new rice varieties at the IRRI experimental station and presented to three farmer representatives the one-page fertilizer management guide that would help farmers maximize the use of expensive fertilizers and at the same time produce higher yields.
