At the National Food Summit on April 6, President Glorial Macapagal Arroyo proposed the FIELDS program to address the Philippine rice crisis. FIELDS stands for Fertilizer, Irrigation and Infrastructure, Extension and Education, Loans and Insurance, Dryer and Post-Harvest Facilities, and Seeds. The government promises to develop farm to market roads, educate farmers and fishermen on new technology, secure more money for agricultural credit, enact a law that will allow farm lands as loan collateral, etc. etc. (PIA)
While this all sounds very nice on the surface level, there’s a difference between putting up a public-relations show (and throwing short-term solutions while you’re at it) and taking serious actions to avert the rice crisis completely. What is the government actually doing?
To begin with, rice shortage has been a problem for many years now.The feudal nature of Philippine agriculture and the fact that President Arroyo has been selling out agricultural lands to real estate developers and cash-croppers is part of the reason why local farmers are unable to meet the country’s demand for rice. The government’s brilliant plan to contain the rice shortage is to depend on imports from
In the papers today, I read that the National Food Authority (NFA) is proposing a gradual price increase on NFA rice over the next couple of months because to sell low-quality government-subsidized rice at Php 18.25/kilo would be “bad economics” and “unrealistic”.[1]Right, because making people pay more money for less rice is the way to help people deal with the rice shortage. According to the NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro, the government raised the farm gate price from Php 12 to Php 17 to boost farmers’ incomes and motivate them to produce more.
If you think the profits of the NFA price increase will be going to the farmers, you’re seriously mistaken. The private sector dominates and controls the distribution and marketing of rice - approximately 95% of local rice production is overseen by private merchants. The rice cartel not only controls the distribution and price of rice; they also act as moneylenders to which farmers are heavily indebted to. (Consumers International) Every planting season, farmers need a capital of around Php 20,000/hectare for fuel for tractors, pesticides, and fertilizers. In jumps the moneylenders to lend them money or supplies. Since they don’t have cash at hand, farmers have to sell their rice back to the moneylender at a price lower than the current Php 14/kilo buying price.[2] This explains the irony of why rice farmers have to line up at distribution centers to buy NFA rice, just like everyone else. To repay their debts, poor farmers have sell most or all of their harvested cavans at a loss.
And as if things can’t get any worse, the rice cartel is making things worse by hoarding NFA rice, repackaging them as commercial rice, and selling them at jacked-up prices. (Inquirer)
I don’t even know where to begin proposing long-term solutions to the rice crisis. Agrarian reform, less reliance on imports, the elimination of the rice cartel, the prioritization of rice production over cash cropping – all of this sounds good to me. Another way of looking at the problem is in terms of overpopulation - Filipinos are popping out more babies than our farmers can feed because the Church says using condoms is bad. The question is – can we rely on our government to do something concrete to avert the rice crisis before people starve and start rioting on the streets? The NFA can’t even maintain the low price of cheap, poor-quality rice.
[1] Burgonio, TJ. “It’s Inevitable—NFA rice to cost more.” Philippine Daily Inquirer.
[2] Lim, Frinston. “Rice planting can’t reduce tribe poverty.” Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Other Articles on the Philippine Rice Crisis
There is an Actual Rice Crisis Aggravated by an Artificial One
The Imminent Crisis in Rice
Solutions to the Philippines’ Rice Crisis