Clarifying the article on rice terraces

It happened again. I was sipping my favorite capuccino at a local coffee shop when a gentleman approached and engaged me in an animated monologue, his monologue, as if we were close friends who have lost contact for some time. I was so disarmed by his projection of familiarity that I got embarrassed to ask him who he was. When he left though, he muttered something like “Teddy ni bai. Woe to me, I could not place the name Teddy to the face of that person I just talked with.

The gentleman, who also looked like my septuagenarian feature, talked about the economics’ law of supply and demand, as he understood it to be the true backbone of my previous column “waiting for Cebu terraces.” Eureka, there was our connection - he is a reader of my column. While not being trained in economics, I still could follow some aspects of his thoughts. After his monologue though, I had to resort to the Internet to get a better perspective of what he was saying.

From the internet, I had a better learning of Teddy’s apparent lecture. The “law of supply and demand states that if a product has a high demand and low supply, the price will increase. Conversely, if there is low demand and high supply, the price will decrease.” To apply this economics concept to my earlier article, Cebu City has a minimal production of rice from the limited fields comprising of about 49 hectares. Whatever harvest our rice planters in Cambinocot, Inayawan, Sinsin and Sudlon I produce, the same quantity cannot feed the entire city population. Not only are we almost totally reliant upon rice sources outside of Cebu, we are fully dependent upon such outside sources such that we can only buy the staple at their own pricing. Because of our limited supply and our demand is increasing, the price of rice is always relatively high. Only when we increase our own rice production can we bring down its cost.

Teddy said that my previous article was not composed that way. He said he clearly understood my message but according to him, in quite brutal language, that it was written in less direct manner that prospective leaders, those presently campaigning for our votes, might not fully comprehend. Really, I do not know if he misjudged my Thursday column or underestimates the capacity of the candidates or if he wants to flaunt his grasp of agricultural economics. Whatever his perception was when we talked, I felt the need to rephrase my article.

Cebu City does not produce enough rice to feed the entire city population. While many Cebuano families eat corn as their main staple, a far greater majority of us favor rice. The insufficiency of rice harvest is because of limited hectareage of our rice fields. But, there are vast mountain sides which we can convert using the skill of Candijaynon farmers. With a new city policy (hopefully drawn by new officials) to make rice terraces out of idle lands, employing modern technology, we can replicate the Banawe and Cadapdapan Rice Terraces.

The present administration of Mayor Raymond Neri Garcia, as a continuation of the leadership of Atty. Michael Lopez Rama, earlier claimed that its coffers are sound. Meaning there are funds probably ready for development. Now remember this. In 2010 the city appropriated P156 million to widen the Talamban-Pit-os road into a four lane highway. That was fifteen years ago yet the project appears to have been abandoned. But what about the P156M? Where is the money? In other words, the city must have millions of pesos that it can waste. It surely has funds to realize such a food security issue as rice terraces. This is perhaps, how Teddy wanted me to write that Thursday article. Thanks Ted!