HALF CUP OF RICE OR A PIECE OF KAMOTE (AND SOME OTHER SOLUTONS TO THE CRISIS)

By the look of things, the rice crisis will linger on and on. Much longer than we expect. So, either we follow the advice of the “brilliant” Sec. Arthur Yap by reducing our consumption of rice or shift to kamote for our staple food. I couldn’t imagine such opacity coming from a cabinet member.

Meanwhile, our President during the Rice Summit at Mimosa, Clark Air Base offered a palliative solution by promising funds: three billion for agriculture research and development; six billion for irrigation; six billion for other agricultural infrastructures; two billion for post harvest facilities; and 500 million for fertilizer support aside from five billion for allocation for rice loans through Land Bank.

My bosom friend, Executive Director of Philippines Development Assistance Program, Inc. (PDAP) Jing Pacturan who attended the Rice Summit doubts if such promises will come to fruition. He added, “with the object of PGMA to balance the budget, how can she do more spending for agriculture?”

All these promises of PGMA may go for naught. Pacturan stated that he is one of the directors in the Development Assistance National Organic Agricultural Program Board with 200 Million earmarked in the budget. Yet, not a single centavo has been disbursed to the Board. Jing was also worried that the additional proposal of PGMA in the summit of allowing CARP lands as loan collateral will most likely put the farmers in so much debt, negating the noble purposes of the land reform program.

Honestly, I don’t believe PGMA anymore when it comes to whatever programs she has vowed to do to alleviate the plight of our people, especially the poor. With the price of gasoline and consumer products like flour skyrocketing, we have the prospects of having our populace getting more famished now and onwards.

The palliative solutions of the President and the opaque advice of her secretary has even come too late.

The problem on rice shortage was seen to loom into a crisis in Asian countries way back in 1996. 18 countries in Asia drafted a food security agenda popularly known as The Bangkok Declaration as input to the World Food Summit (WFS), designed to prevent such crisis to occur. It called for the democratic control of food production and distribution by those who produce food. It implies that food production should be reserved for national producers in both developing and developed countries. Foreign trade is seen only as a complement to national production. (The Bangkok Declaration 1996)

This was strengthened further with the introduction of the concept of food sovereignty defined as “the right of countries and people to define their own food and agricultural policies that are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate”.(NGO Forum 2002)

In contrast to such declaration however, the Declaration of the World Food Summit (WFS) by Heads of State, among them PGMA, emphasized trade liberalization as indispensable to ensuring world food security. Its Plan of Action argues that trade liberalization means lower prices and higher incomes.

Said differently, instead of producing our staple food for our people and have control over our food production to ensure that the belly of every Filipino will be full, our government acceded to produce other products thereby, undermining the food security of our people.

As a result of such policy adapted by our government, we lost our food security. This simply means throwing away rice production as a priority to make rice available, accessible and affordable to all. Instead, all around the island of Mindanao, we see sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, rubber and palm trees being planted to cater the needs of other countries. Our government since 1998 has then started importing rice forgetting the development of our land for rice production. In the advent of the new millennium, rice crisis set in our nation to our almost irreversible level.

Way back in the 80’s, I worked with NEDA and was assigned as a deskman for the development of Agusan del Sur. A discussion with a certain Engr. Billy Emphasis of NIA showed me a picture on how hunger would be prevented. He said if we develop the entire Agusan Marshland for rice production, Mindanao will have sufficient rice. Obviously, this was not given much attention by our government.

Finally, Jing Pacturan of PDAP sees successes as they push for organic rice farming. Such a program though long term is the most strategic approach to solving the rice crisis than any other the short term solution being proposed right now. It is also environmentally sound and in line with the global trend to go natural. I’m with you Jing!