Cebu City half-rice ordinance proposed

CEBU, Philippines - The National Food Authority (NFA)-7 is requesting the Cebu City government to pass an ordinance requiring establishments in the food serving industry in the city to include half-rice servings in their menu.

NFA Provincial Manager Nestor Rey Alcoseba, in a letter to Mayor Michael Rama, said the move is in support of the Department of Agriculture (DA) campaign promoting responsible rice consumption.

The campaign, Alcoseba said, is embodied in Proclamation No. 494 signed by President Benigno Aquino III on Oct. 18, 2012, "Declaring the Year 2013 as the National Year of Rice and Directing the Department of Agriculture to lead its Celebration."

The month of November is also affirmed as the National Rice Awareness Month pursuant to Proclamation No. 524.

Alcoseba requested that business institutions such as restaurants, schools, offices, hospitals, cafeterias, catering operations, fast-food chains and other food-related services would be covered in the ordinance.

"Half-rice serving will be mandatory in the menu of the restaurant and other eateries," he said in his letter, which he also furnished to Vice Mayor Michael Labella.

While smaller eateries and some school cafeterias sell half-rice, others, particularly larger establishments, do not.

The NFA-7 official said that a Food and Nutrition Research Institutes study showed that every Filipino wastes two tablespoons of cooked rice every meal.

"In 2010, our wasted rice was equivalent to 13 percent of the total rice imports of the same year amounting to P6.2 billion of the consumption of nearly 2.6 million Filipinos in a year," Alcoseba said.

The government has been aiming to attain rice self-sufficiency and the target is 2013.

The national government has also been promoting public awareness on responsible rice consumption through intensified information campaign and social marketing.

"A sustained and nationwide campaign to boost farmers' morale and motivate them to adopt technologies to further improve farm productivity and encourage the general public to be responsible rice consumers are necessary to complement the government's efforts to achieve rice self-sufficiency," it had said.

Abenoja's letter was referred to the City Council committee on social services headed by City Councilor Gerardo Carillo for study.  —/RHM (FREEMAN)