Rice import liberalization: Permanent solution?

As has been the norm, we are tapping again the most overused temporary solution (that of importing rice) on our permanent rice supply shortages. So that, once and for all let us seriously look into this lingering rice shortage. Then, we shall see if we do or don’t have programs that are supposedly designed to address them.

Knowing that this problem is either man-made or due to man’s negligence or due to some government-sponsored programs that are inimical to our food self-sufficiency initiatives, some proposals are probably now being deliberated to reinforce or rectify what had been done so far. Or, it might be that we’ve given up as some of the country’s economists are batting for the liberalization of rice imports instead.

We are not alone in this misery though. For one, rice is the staple food for half of the world’s population. Considering that some countries (like Egypt) had shifted from bread to rice as their main staple, coupled with population growth, expect an uncontrollable rise in demand.

Moreover, in 2008, rice growing countries, like Vietnam (through the Vietnam Food Association) and China, had either stop signing export contracts or started imposing taxes on this commodity to discourage producers from selling them to other countries. Consequently, Vietnam went down from third to fifth-biggest exporter as the United States of America and Pakistan surged to third and fourth, respectively.

Notably, among those whose rice exports significantly declined are countries we traditionally imported the staple. These are Vietnam (from 2011 to 2015 exports went down by 56.3%) and Thailand (from 2011 to 2015 exports went down by 30.2%).

Apparently, therefore, even these rice-exporting countries will not be spared of this staple’s soaring prices. Importing countries though will feel the more severe impact as these rice-exporting countries will try to discourage exports to feed their own burgeoning population. Sadly, alongside China (now the top importer), we are the third biggest importer with Nigeria in second. Iran and Indonesia placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Significantly, these five top rice importers are responsible for about 30% of the total global trade.

Moving forward, experts claim (worldatlas.com) that “by the year 2040 an additional rice supply of no less than 112 million tons will be required to meet the growing global demand, especially if countries from Africa fail to address their own growing populations and subsequently greater food resource requirements.”

However, before we get overwhelmed from this development or get use to it, everyone should ponder on what we’ve done right and what we did wrong. Lest we forget, we are an agricultural country. Unlike oil where the country isn’t that blessed, this is a problem that we can internally solve.

Self-sufficiency is the keyword.  We can start this crusade by revisiting what we taught to the Thais when they were still our tutees. Lest we forget, we always bragged about training them. Didn’t we?  We can, therefore, safely assume that we did everything right in teaching them.

Secondly, our lawmakers and government executives should provide clear guidelines on new initiatives that will, in any way, affect food production. For instance, the implementing guidelines of the biofuel act should strictly provide that proponents could not convert areas devoted to food production to this new initiative. While we have nothing against this program, we strongly feel that it is just so inappropriate to gain in one program and loss in another.

Moreover, this government must also prohibit conversions of rice fields to housing subdivisions.  While we recognize the acute need for decent shelter, developers can always opt for vertical developments like low-cost condominiums to address such need. Or, we may task the Department of Health to launch a vigorous educational campaign to promote corn as another staple our countrymen can shift to. It is not just cheap but so nutritious too.

True enough, for decades, we’ve been in this situation. We’ve never been a rice exporter.  Worse, we’ve never been self-sufficient. This is a great insult to a country that bragged about training Thais on rice growing technologies and yet starved due to poor methodologies.

Some rice import liberalization advocates though have claimed that self-sufficiency is a tall order as our country is visited by at least twenty (20) typhoons a year. Compared to Vietnam’s and Thailand’s just about six (6) typhoons a year, for these advocates, the reason for their abundance and our insufficiency comes so handy.

Nevertheless, we must find ways to be self-sufficient. Rice import liberalization should just be a temporary solution.