Do we have a rice shortage or a rice crisis? To answer this question, we have to look at the rice statistics since 2000.

The price of rice has increased from P19 a kilogram to P28 over the past eight years. This should not be alarming, because this five-percent annual increase is in step with inflation.

The “palay” [rice before milling] yield did not increase significantly, going up from 3.07 tons to only 3.77 tons a hectare over the same period. This is because up to now, only half of our hectarage is planted to certified seeds and hybrid seeds, which yield 4.7 and 6.5 tons a hectare, respectively.

The other half still uses ordinary seeds, which yield only 2.75 tons a hectare. The production increase, from 12.4 million tons to 16.4 million tons, has thus not kept up with the demand of our increasing population.

Despite this, according to Representative Salvador Escudero of Sorsogon province, a very competent former secretary of agriculture, there is a “comfortable supply” of rice today. He cites the current rice buffer stock of 57 days and the harvests happening throughout the country.

Indeed, there appears to be no rice shortage in terms of availability. But there is definitely a shortage in terms of our own rice production. Proof of this is the almost fourfold increase in our rice importation from 620,000 tons in 2000 to the planned 2.2 million tons to be imported this year.

Our 90-percent rice self-sufficiency is not alarming if there is ample global supply of rice. But with the tight global supply of rice and with the rice import price more than doubling from $300 to $700 a ton, lack of rice self-sufficiency may mean food insecurity.

Key recommendations

Realizing the importance not only of the rice problem but also the difficulties in other food producing sectors, Alyansa Agrikultura [Agricultural Alliance] leaders representing 42 organizations covering the major agricultural sectors conducted a special conference last April 1.

The following key recommendations were made:

1. The comprehensive rice master plan that was abandoned five years ago in favor of short-term rice action plans should be completed. This is especially important now that P5 billion has just been allocated to solve the rice problem.

Money wasted for unscrupulous political and short-sighted ends should be avoided in favor of strategically sound economic and social objectives. Discussions should be held immediately with farmers themselves. This is far better than limiting these discussions to bureaucrats and academics who may not know what is happening on the ground.

2. An aggressive government program with the appropriate support mechanisms should be launched to open up new lands for rice production.

3. A guaranteed support price sufficient to encourage rice farming and address the more than 50 percent increase in fertilizer costs should be implemented. The former support price of P12/kg of the National Food Authority (NFA) was so unattractive that, said NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro, the NFA was able to buy only one percent of the rice available.

4. Adequate government support from seed to shelf should be provided. The half of our rice hectarage that is not yet planted to high yielding varieties should be supported so that farmers here would use the optimal seed technology.

5. Organic farming should be aggressively promoted. Though intense chemical-based farming may temporarily increase yields, it destroys land fertility in the long run.

Organic farming is recommended for two reasons. Firstly, it restores soil fertility and significantly increases farm yield to an average of six tons a hectare. This has been demonstrated by people such as Executive Director Jerry Pacturan of the Philippine Development Assistance Program (PDAP, +63918 9044457). Secondly, our people are entitled to healthy organic rice, rather than unhealthy chemical-filled rice.

Conclusion

Our rice problem today has the good effect of finally awakening our nation to the importance of agriculture in our lives. Once the master plans, not only for rice but also for the other food sectors, are completed, Congress should give the Department of Agriculture and its farmer and fisher constituencies the resources needed to implement these plans.

With the proper teamwork from all the concerned sectors, the implementation of these plans can finally make the dream of Philippine agricultural development a reality.

The author is the chairman of Agriwatch, former secretary for Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects, former undersecretary of agriculture, and former undersecretary of trade and industry. For inquiries and suggestions, email agriwatchphil@yahoo.com or call or fax +632 8522112.(Inquirer News Service)