LOS BAÑOS—Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), says that the Philippines is doing well to overcome the global food crisis that threatens to spark civil unrest and make millions more impoverished in the Third World.

Zeigler told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview at IRRI headquarters here in Laguna on Wednesday he had discussions with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap last week on the rice situation in the Philippines.

“We are in the late stages of developing an action plan with the Department of Agriculture,” Zeigler said. “We hope that Secretary Yap and I can finalize and can sign an accord that will lay out the direction we should be taking.”

The talks came amid concern by economic and finance ministers at the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington at the weekend over food shortages that had sparked tensions in over 30 countries and threatened to drive more than 100 million people in the developing world deeper into poverty.

The cutbacks were blamed on climate change, booming populations, new-found affluence that has put more food on the table in China and India, conversion of grains into biofuels, natural disasters in the United States, Australia and Bangladesh, and export restrictions by rice producers.

Awareness of technology

Zeigler said the plan being hammered out with the agriculture department would look at ways of meeting the future needs of the Philippines as well as that of other rice-producing countries.

“It goes from concerted efforts to make sure that farmers are aware of and can use the latest techniques in crop establishment all the way to making sure that social safety nets are in place,” he said.

He said the plan called for improving agronomic practices, enhancing the ability to utilize rice varieties more effectively, promoting rice breeding and building training capacity.

“It’s to make sure that government policies are in place that allow both farmers and consumers to benefit from the production capacity and the prices.

“We invest in infrastructure, especially irrigation, and finally to make sure that the safety nets are in place such that the poorest of the poor aren’t left behind in the case of the price spikes that we’re seeing now,” Zeigler said.

Green revolution

The IRRI spearheaded the Asian Green Revolution in the 1960s by developing high yielding “miracle rice” varieties.

The game plan is essentially to make rice available and affordable, Zeigler said, adding that this has to be managed carefully.

“I don’t think any government wants to see its poorest people suffering starvation,” Zeigler said.

“This is a global problem, not just in the Philippines. I read the papers in the Philippines and sometimes I get the impression that there’s a lot of finger-pointing, saying this is mismanagement by the government,” he said.

3 steps

“Every country has its problem. I don’t want to see the Philippines being bashed when in fact many things are being done well,” he said.

Zeigler referred to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent announcement that she would make available P40 billion to improve rice production in the country.

“In our discussion with the Philippines on rice, it is our hope that a significant amount of that P40 billion that the President announced will go into getting technology to the farmers, into research and into rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure.

“Those three steps can go a long way to reversing the near-term and medium-term problems that we’re facing. When that money comes on, I think there’s every reason to believe that it can be used wisely,” Zeigler said.

Post-harvest losses

“One of the things we hope will form part of that program would be to improve how rice is handled post harvest and reduce the post-harvest losses. If you can dry the rice properly, store it properly, you can get more of what we harvest,” he said.

“There’s a lot of technology out there we just need to get to the farmers and maybe make some final adjustment in the field,” the IRRI director general said.

Zeigler said the Philippines had “benefited quite substantially” from the IRRI technology.

“If you look at the average yields in the Philippines compared to say Thailand, actually they’re much higher. So, the Philippines has, I think, relative to a number of countries, adopted technologies quite effectively and used them rather well,” he said.

RP has less rice land

Asked why the Philippines remains a rice importer, Zeigler said that compared to countries like Thailand, Vietnam, China, India and Burma, the Philippines has less land that is suitable for rice production.

“It’s a mountainous country, many small islands. It is difficult to move production around,” he said.

The country is on the typhoon track and gets hit by 15 to 20 typhoons annually and that takes its toll on rice production, he said.

There’s also rapid population growth. “The Philippines production has been growing very well except population has been growing faster,” Zeigler said.

“These are the major reasons why the Philippines continues to import rice. None of these is about the farmers not adopting the technology. They do a good job,” he said.

The challenge

“The question of food safety nets and making sure prices are affordable by the poor and how to achieve that has been a policy debate for many many years,” said Zeigler, referring to subsidized rice being sold by the Philippine government-run National Food Authority.

“We don’t want our populations to get hungry and we don’t want the poorest to suffer the most. The difficulty is how to make sure that the poorest and the neediest receive the benefits of the program and that it doesn’t distort what the farmers receive,” he said.

“That’s the challenge. How do you manage it. I think the idea of safety nets is agreed to by most people. It’s how you actually get it to work that’s the challenge and you know it’s not a trivial matter. I mean, even the wealthiest of countries have safety nets for their people,” Zeigler said.