In the
Philippines, 2013 is the National Year of Rice. It is targeting self-sufficiency
by the end of the year. Halfway through the year, the Department of Agriculture
says it is 98% on track.
It’s ironic
that for years since the 1960s, the country enjoyed rice abundance, thanks to new
developments from the International Rice Research Institute. For a while, the Philippines was the expert, training neighboring countries on rice production. Weather seemed to
be better back then. Needless to say, those were also the times when pesticides
were freely used. Economically, the country was also doing well. But toward the
1980s, rice production started declining. Growing awareness on the harmful
effects of certain insecticides, not to mention more frequent droughts and typhoon, led to
lower rice output.
It's worth noting that during the administration
of Gloria Arroyo, the government was accused of mismanaging millions of tons of
rice, leaving these to rot in warehouses in favor of imported rice. The long and
short of it, rice importation was imminent, and no government before the
current one, was able to turn it around.
It became
one of President Benigno Aquino III’s objectives for the country to be rice sufficient.
Pleased with the work of the Department of Agriculture under his helm, he increased the
department’s budget by some 20% to more than PhP74 billion this year. Together with other agencies, organisations, and
rice producers, the DA says it is meeting its target, and has in fact shipped
its first rice to the Middle East earlier this year.
The
naysayers, however, do not see rice self-sufficiency as realistic because the
population is also growing. But NYR 2013 is not just about increasing rice output. Nor is it just about government and
farmers. Consumers are as much a part of it as anyone. Consider these facts:
- Each Filipino wastes about 2 tablespoons of rice every day.
- Wasted rice in the Philippines could feed 2.6 million Filipinos for a year.
- In a year, the total wasted rice reaches PhP 6.2 billion.
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