WARNS FOOD EXEC
Population boom, land conversion threaten future food supply
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:37:00 03/26/2008
Filed Under: Food, Population
MANILA, Philippines -- A National Food Authority (NFA) official on Wednesday said the country has enough rice to feed all, but population boom, unabated conversion of arable lands to residential/industrial estates and climate change is putting pressure on the future supply.
Rex Estoperez, NFA spokesman, said the grain agency’s main problem is not the rice shortage -- he said there is no such thing -- but the increases in the price of the country’s main staple.
With the surge in oil prices, it has become more costly to transport rice, Estoperez said.
“There is no rice crisis. If there is a crisis, you cannot buy anything. But there is abundant supply. You can buy rice in the market,” he explained to the media in a forum in Club Filipino.
He noted that the NFA has a current 15-day buffer supply, which will be increased to 30 days’ worth of rice come July, when the typhoon season starts.
But Estoperez said Filipinos should not be complacent as rice consumption might outpace the supply in a few years. For the past two years, there was a “big jump” in the rice consumption, the NFA official said.
At present, the country’s daily rice requirement is pegged at 33,000 metric tons. Two years ago, Filipinos consumed about 29,000 MT of rice a day.
The surge, he explained, was attributed to the growing population and the fact that Filipinos have become dependent on rice more than ever because of the increase in the prices of other staples and grains like pan de sal and corn.
Aside from the population boom, high oil prices, unpredictable weather patterns that can wreak havoc on the planting and harvesting seasons, shrinking agricultural lands are expected to put pressure on the supply side, Estoperez said.
Noting that the National Statistics Office (NSO) sees 90 million Filipinos by the end of the year, Estoperez said: “We have to be ready for the requirement. We have to plan and plan.”
To ensure that there is enough supply, the government has contracted to import 2.1 million metric tons of rice this year, he said. The NFA has already bought 1.2 million metric tons, he added.
Estoperez said the country can still avoid the crisis through rice conservation and a renewed focus on agriculture.
The NFA and other departments, he noted, has ordered stricter monitoring of retailers to ensure that they do not hoard the supply and that their prices are reasonable. He noted that the NFA will implement new measures to weed out unscrupulous price dealers, he added.
As to the growing population, Estoperez refused to make recommendations but said the government should be made aware of its consequences to food security.
The public and traders should also cease speculating about rice prices and not resort to panic buying as it could jack up the prices, he added.
“Don’t throw away rice. Don’t panic. It will just be an opportunity for industrial players to jack up their prices,” he said.
Lastly, Estoperez said the government should intensify its focus on agriculture, noting that the Philippines is an “agricultural economy.”
The Department of Agriculture has ordered maximum use of agricultural properties for rice production. Conversion of arable lands to residential and industrial estates should also be “stopped,” he added.
“Before, you can see farm land from here to Bulacan. Now it’s all houses,” he said.
|
