PHL is merely a sack of palay from rice self-sufficiency — Agri official

(Updated 8:22 p.m.) Just how close is the Philippines to achieving its goal of becoming self-sufficient in rice?

 

In fact, very close, according to a senior official of the Department of Agriculture.

 

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dante S. Delima, who is also the National Rice Program coordinator, noted on Wednesday that three million rice farmers need only produce one extra sack of palay this year to meet the 20-million metric ton (MT) target.

 

This would be enough to cover not just the rice consumption of Filipinos for a year but also enough grains for export above the 30 days' worth of buffer stock in case of calamities.

 

Delima revealed the numbers during the Region 11 launch of the Year of Rice, the Agriculture Department's rice advocacy program, at the Waterfront Hotel in Davao City.

 

In 2010, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala first announced the goal of making the Philippines self-sufficient in rice by 2013—a target that was moved to 2014. 

 

Since then, output from the 4.5 million hectares of rice paddies in the country has steadily increased. From the usual 3 percent yearly growth, the agriculture sector saw a 6.5 increase in production by the end of 2010 and 8 percent in 2011-2012.

 

The production growth translated into a total harvest of 16.5 million MT in 2011. By 2012, production rose to 18 million MT or just enough to feed the 95 million or so Filipinos for a year.

 

Even if the numbers did not translate to self-sufficiency in rice, the dramatic increase in output reduced the need to import the commodity from 500,000 MT in 2011 to 187,000 MT last year.

 

“What we're importing now is just for our buffer stores,” Delima noted, saying 187,000 MT would cover six days of domestic consumption of the staple food. “Most of the rice we consume right now basically come from our local farmers,” the Agriculture official added.

 

To increase paddy rice output and diversify consumption habits of Filipinos, the Agriculture Department and its partner agencies launched information campaigns on corn, banana, and kamote or sweet potatoes as alternatives to rice while encouraging ways to reduce wastage.

 

Access to farm support and information were being improved through the Pinoy Rice Knowledge Bank, Farmers' Contact Center, e-Extension Program for Agriculture and Fisheries, and subsidies for irrigation, tractors, fertilizer and seedlings. Challenges and skepticism

 

Despite the good news, Filipino farmers still face a lot of challenges that could affect the goal of rice self-sufficiency, said Delima.

 

“Rice smuggling is still a big problem, as well as the lack of funding for irrigation and farm to market roads and bridges,” he said.

 

He also agreed with the farmers that the National Food Authority should buy rice at higher farm gate prices as motivation to continue planting rice. Delima assured the farmers they will get support from the local government, like bringing irrigation to far-flung areas and working on getting more tractors for the region. However, the problems above are the same infrastructure issues that Giap Minh Bui, an economist with the Asian Development Bank's Southeast Asia Department of Natural Resources and Agriculture, mentioned in an ADB live chat event as hindering the Philippines from truly reaching its target due to the high cost of farming. The ADB also expressed its concern that the government's rice self-sufficiency program might do more harm than good in the long run, especially in the international market. In its working paper "Enhancing ASEAN's Resiliency to Extreme Rice Price Volatility," the think tank explains how rice self sufficiency could send price shocks in the international rice market and raise the cost of rice of Filipinos. ADB Practical Leader in Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development Lourdes Adriano was quoted in an Aug. 30 report as saying, “There [is] no historical data that will support this claim. It is not possible to attain sufficiency next year, not even in the near future. Not in your or my lifetime.” — VS/BM, GMA News