Rice self-sufficiency as top of the agenda

One of the promises made by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte as a prelude to his oath-taking and formal assumption as the 16th chief executive of the country is self-sufficiency in rice production.

This pledge (actually, expressed by spokesman Peter Lavina a week after election day) is among his less controversial statements – perhaps because people are more interested in seeing a crime – and corruption-busting President rather than one who promises loftier economics-related commitments.

After all, rice self-sufficiency (or even rice security) are words that hold no immediate relevance to the common Filipino who can always rely on markets to supply him with adequate amounts of rice that he needs to feed himself and his family.

True, most of today’s generation of Filipinos cannot remember having a lack of rice. Even if local production has consistently fallen beyond demand, there is always the comfort of knowing that we have bodegas full of imported rice to augment whatever our farmlands cannot supply.

Similarly, importations have been our go-to during times when our major rice fields suffer from typhoons or flooding – or even droughts. Past governments have perfected the math of balancing supply and demand with enough buffer stock so that there is not a day yet that security of this staple food is compromised.

Easier said than done

If we are to believe President Rody’s relayed statement, we should be seeing rice self-sufficiency in one to two years. His spokesman had elaborated on how this will be accomplished by two ways: idle lands will be developed, and rice farming will be modernized.

Formidable challenge

These two stated remedies are without doubt the solutions that past administrations, including the outgoing one, have chosen to guide them. Sadly, none have gotten things right, for one or more reasons. Solving this decades-old problem obviously seems to be a more formidable challenge.

When the incoming administration gets its mandate to sign decrees, let’s hope that it will do something right that its predecessors have missed. Developing new lands to expand the current areas and modernizing our antiquated farming systems are easier said than done.

Since 1869, the Philippines has been importing rice almost every year. Rice self-sufficiency has been an elusive dream for this archipelago of 100 million people, 80 percent of who spend a fourth of their income on rice alone.

During crises when there is a threat of rice insufficiency, the resulting supply disruption produces stress – on a nationwide level. The same happens when rice prices are erratic. Administrations tremble at such threats, and quickly act to resolve such crisis from escalating.

Challenges

To improve the country’s rice production, and therefore attain self-sufficiency, agricultural experts agree on three things: increase the amount of land that is cultivated to rice; improve the country’s network of irrigation channels; and modernize farming methods of all Filipino rice farmers.

Of the three, the last perhaps can be regarded as most challenging. The problem does not lie in the lack of technology for new farm implements, planting methods, or improved rice varieties. Instead, it is about asking people to embrace new changes.

The country has at its service hundreds of Filipino scientists with multi-degrees and doctorates in agriculture. This is augmented by some of the finest institutions in the world on rice culture and technology such as the International Rice Research Institute.

Dysfunctional system

Yet, having a dysfunctional bureaucratic system is one of the biggest reasons why our farmers are unable to imbibe the modern ways that are effectively at the country’s fingertips and disposal. With the agricultural extension functions devolved to the local government units, the transfer of technology is impeded.

There too is the inability of our farmers to work as cooperatives so that they may afford the modern equipment that could mechanize their farming and increase their yields twofold. Without such implements, it would also be difficult to have three harvests a year.

On another level, despite record-breaking budget allocation increases, the government has been unable to provide the water system that rice farmlands desperately need.

We have canals that need repair, kilometers of new irrigation lines to build, water systems that need to be reinforced so that they may flow better, and more. But these need more than money; these need a clear unequivocal commitment from the government’s leadership.

Growing population

Lastly, the country needs to expand its rice acreage to be able to keep up with its growing population. With 4.5 million hectares only devoted to rice production, it is virtually impossible to feed our population that grows by millions every year.

Thailand, with 66 million, has already 11 million hectares devoted to rice, and with their more advanced farming techniques and robust irrigation system, explains why they are able to be one of the biggest producers of rice in the world.

It would perhaps be a welcome complementary achievement for the incoming government to put value in one of its other promises, specifically to curb population growth to three per family. This perhaps will help President Rody to remain true to his promise of rice self-sufficiency by 2018.

Filipinos have been praying for change to happen, and seeing that this country will not need to import rice from Thailand, Indonesia or India in the next decade will indeed be an accomplishment that will give the President the accolade that will overshadow most, if not all, of the criticisms that his detractors have been throwing at him.

Hopefully, too, no more of the 16.6 million Filipinos who voted for him will go home disappointed.

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