Invest more in agriculture.
This is the call of the World Bank (WB) on the Philippines and developing countries.
In its latest report, the WB warned that “the sector must be placed at the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized.”
“We can see from this report that despite the great strides in science and technology, hunger and famine have overtaken the age where population growth has outpaced food production,” said former food minister Jesus T. Tanchanco Sr.
He said the number of hungry people in the world remains high at 790 million, and the goals of governments to reduce it by half by the year 2015 will not be reached because the current rate of progress in agriculture is too slow.
Tanchanco said agriculture is the vital battleground in the war against hunger and social upheaval. “Our country will never prosper unless we give agriculture the highest priority in our national recovery agenda,” he said.
The former National Food Authority (NFA) administrator said the government’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in rice, will all go to naught if it will not stop importing the cereal.
He said that since 1985 and every year thereafter, the Philippines has been importing rice, spending billions of pesos and, in the process, subsidizing foreign farmers.
“For the past 21 years, the amount of money we have been spending for rice importations has been staggering. Ang kailangan ng ating pamahalaan ay ‘political will.” Kung wala tayo nito, walang mangyayari sa tinatawag nating self-sufficiency program sa bigas,” he said, adding that last year alone, the Philippines spent some P28 billion in rice imports.