Rice wastage equalled a third of PHL rice imports in 2011–IRRI

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) estimated that the equivalent of about a third of rice the Philippines imported last year went to waste because of improper handling by consumers.

 

“With 94 million people and 9 grams of wasted rice per day, the total wastage is 308,000 tons… or 36 percent of the 2011 rice imports,” IRRI said in its publication “That rice you throw away” posted on its website. 

 

IRRI noted about P23 million worth of rice–enough to feed some 4.3 million Filipinos–is wasted everyday.

 

“Every Filipino wastes an average of 3 tablespoons (9 grams) of rice daily, which is equivalent to 3.3 kilograms per year,” the article read, adding that wasted grams per head vary in different regions of the Philippines.

 

For Luzon, the daily rice and product wastage is 16 grams per capita or higher than 12 grams for both the Visayas and Mindanao.

 

“Also, middle-class families tend to waste more than low-income families. Apparently, the more people have, the more they waste,” the report read.

 

“The… rice wasted each year, not just in the Philippines but in the whole world, need to be taken seriously. Our social conscience will tell us that the rice we waste (or money, for that matter) can just be the very rice we need to feed the hungry and the undernourished,” the report read.

 

Meanwhile, the report noted that the Philippines’ “throwaways” is at par with the global rice wastage.

 

Citing a Food and Agriculture Organization study, IRRI cited “[it] was revealed that a third of global food (1 billion tons) is wasted.”

 

It was noted in the report that, “Losses in rice come from the unmilled grains through poor harvesting and postharvest activities, inefficient transportation, inadequate storage, wasteful processing, and market spoilage.”

 

“With global population now more than 7 billion people and continuing to increase and food production having difficulty catching up, a lack of critical attention to this is surprising,” it said.

 

Still, Flordeliza Bordey, an economist at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), was optimistic that Filipinos can be disciplined in handling its staple food.

 

“If we look at the trend of the two Food and Nutrition Research Institute surveys (2003 and 2008), it is not impossible to influence the seemingly wasteful eating behavior of Filipinos,” she said citing that raising public awareness through campaigns can be the key to rice conservation.

 

Last year, PhilRice launched a rice awareness campaign and assigned November as the rice awareness month.

 

“As research institutions take part in securing food for the next generations through high-yielding crops, consumers must also help solve problems in food scarcity through responsible consumption, so that everyone will have enough to eat,” the report concluded. —Rouchelle Dinglasan/VS, GMA News