DA urges Negrenses to be responsible rice consumers

THE Department of Agriculture in Negros Island Region (DA-NIR) is urging Negrenses to help the region become rice self-sufficient by being responsible rice consumers.

Joyce Wendam, regional director of DA-NIR, on Friday, June 16, said they have been asking the public to eat just the right amount of rice to minimize food wastage.

Data from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) showed that in 2008, the average rice wastage of the country is 308,000 metric tons, amounting to P7.27 billion.

This is equivalent to 12 percent of the total rice imported by the country on said year, and the biggest of this wastage came from Luzon, it added.

“Reducing rice wastage is one of the strategies of the government to increase the country’s self-sufficiency level,” Wendam said, adding that the DA continues to urge people to become “riceponsible.”

On Wednesday, Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman committee on agriculture and food, “suggested” a ban on the offering of unlimited rice servings, or “unli-rice” among food establishments amid government efforts towards rice self-sufficiency.

She also urged restaurants to encourage people to eat more vegetables instead, stressing that too much consumption of rice also has bad effects to health.

After receiving negative feedbacks from netizens, the senator made a clarification on Thursday, June 15, that she is not planning to file a bill banning “unli-rice” in the country.

It was just a side comment on the matter and a genuine expression of concern, Villar said.

Wendam said the senator's “suggestion” will contribute to reducing rice wastage and increasing sufficiency, but may also hurt food establishments.

However, she pointed out that agency’s key strategy in achieving 100 percent rice self-sufficiency is improving agricultural productivity.

In Negros Occidental alone, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Negros Occidental has noted a two-year consecutive drop in the province’s rice self-sufficiency level mainly due to effects of El Niño phenomenon. (EPN with reports from PNA)

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