November is Rice Awareness Month

Anything concrete that the government does to ensure rice sufficiency for our growing population is good news for me. President Arroyo has signed Administrative Order (AO) 244 to formalize the policy that revenues from the Malampaya Project, where our government has a ten percent stake, would be used to attain rice self-sufficiency. The President’s actions, which she announced during her last State of the Nation Address (SONA), is covered by Section 8 of Presidential Decree No. 910 as amended by RA 7638 which provides that all fees and receipts collected by the Department of Energy shall form part of a special fund…for special government projects as may be directed by the President. An initial P4 billion will be released to the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool, which aims to facilitate the farmers’ access to credit.                    

It is quite surprising that a country like ours which is blessed with so many tillable lands is now known as the world’s top importer of rice. According to statistics, only about 4.2 million hectares of land are devoted to rice production and out of that, only 1.4 million hectares are irrigated. Aside from the lack of support and subsidies from the government, and lately, due to the damaging effects of climate change, the interest for farming as an economic activity, has dwindled over the years.

It used to be that working in the rice fields is considered noble work that even the rich work in their own rice fields. Rizal’s manuscripts (“The Indolence of the Filipino”, 1890) have something to tell us why farming, as an enterprise and a way of life, diminished, leading to the first rice shortage way back during the Spanish occupation. Records as early as the 13th century show that the Filipino natives tilled their own fields and planted rice, millet, oranges, lemons, panicum, etc. and sold merchandise like cloves cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs and mined gold. They were economically active until centuries of influence under various occupations discouraged them and changed everything — years of Muslim piratical attacks, the Chinese capitalists who provided easy and attractive incomes to natives, the bourgeoise influences of Spanish colonialism and years of engaging and being killed in war, the convenience of the American way of life and its labor-saving machinery, almost completely obliterated the very traditions and way of life of the past. As a consequence, most landed Filipinos and farmers abandoned their farms and the country had to import rice for the first time way back in 1870.           

It is not so bad for us at present; if reports from government officials are reliable, we are actually 90% self-sufficient, with the short supply being imported from Thailand and Vietnam. The country presently produces 11.2 million metric tons (MT) and for 2008, the rice shortage is about 2.2 million MT. The steps being taken by our administration is in support of its targeted rice self-sufficiency by 2013 or five years from now. But we have to deal with the population problem at the same time and restrict speculators and opportunists from increasing their prices. Government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs) are also being directed to allot five percent of their 2007 surplus to the rice self-sufficiency fund, to start with. More real and immediate incentives to farmers must be given by the government, not only with funding but with irrigation, crop protection and more farm-to-market roads.         

On Rice Awareness Month, let each sector of our society think of ways to ensure rice self-sufficiency. Even individuals and families can help by taking care not to waste precious rice and think of shifting to cheaper and nutritious alternatives like camote. We can avoid a crisis if we join efforts, work towards a common goal and be sure to reach it.