EDITORIAL - MAY 3, 2008

Roxas Calls For 10-Year
Food Security Plan

“The Food Summit should have been convened long before the DA’s admonition for the people to start eating brown rice or half-a-cup of rice. The government was obviously caught flat-footed by the shooting up of rice prices in the world market and we now see an adrenaline rush among executives to come up with abrupt measures.

“We must now convert the current crisis into a genuine opportunity for agricultural reforms. What we need is a ten-year food security plan done quietly but competently in consultation with experts and stakeholders, attuned with global trends and realities but with very clear domestic targets and a realistic to-do list. Otherwise, we will continue to muddle our way through a global regime of soaring food prices. The well-meaning recommendations of different groups during the one-day Summit can be integrated into this ten-year plan.

“A ten-year food security plan must be done soup-to-nuts style, meaning from seed distribution to market access and with social programs to help farmers in between cycles. It must identify the number of driers that the DA will purchase for our farmers per municipality to prevent spoilage and wastage. It also must include a nationwide irrigation plan and funds for Research and Development attuned to specific rice productivity targets for the next ten years. It should include a detailed plan for other non-agricultural food sectors as well.

“We must also consider the fiscal sustainability factor as we are confronted with a humongous rice import bill for the coming months alone. I reiterate my call on the President to convene the LEDAC so we can reach a consensus on interim and long-term solutions to the current food crisis and its impact on our country’s fiscal and economic situation.

“As to public accountability, let’s start with the government’s rice importation program. How much in totality are our rice imports? When were they negotiated, for how much per metric ton, and when will these rice imports actually arrive in Manila? The release of such information is the best assurance to our people that indeed there will be adequate supply of rice in the country for the coming months. I ask the DA and DBM to present this bill of particulars to the people as a sign of their commitment to transparency and accountability in the use of agriculture funds.”

In Southeast Asia, Thailand leads in the Formation of Organization of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC) joined by Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. This is actually a rice cartel designed to dictate uniform price of rice in the world market. Where will the Philippines go? Form the Organization of Rice Importing Countries (ORIC)? The Philippines may be alone.

It is hard to believe that the Philippines is experiencing rice shortage when the International Rice Research Institute and the premier agricultural college, the UP at Los Baños are situated in the Philippines. This is a model of a country where the teachers are excellent but her people are poor implementors. /MP