DA renews pitch for ‘half-cup rice’

File/DA-PhilRice Official Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — Half a cup of rice, anyone?

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has revived its call for a national policy urging all restaurants and food establishments to serve rice in half-cup portions to curb the wastage of the nation’s staple food.

“[Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.] wants to revive a bill to offer half a cup of rice to customers,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said at a press briefing on Monday.

De Mesa, also the DA’s spokesperson, clarified that the proposal was not to make half-cup rice portions compulsory but only to “encourage” establishments, particularly hotels, restaurants, and “carinderias,” or eateries, to offer this option.

READ: House pushes revival of half-cup rice bill

“In other words, it is not mandatory but optional, meaning restaurants will have the option to offer it… [because] if you give [customers] one cup of rice right away and they can’t finish it, that automatically becomes wastage,” he said.

The planned bill or executive order (EO) seeks to reduce wastage while promoting better health, he added.

Data from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), a government corporate entity attached to the DA, show that 255,000 metric tons of rice is wasted annually, as of November.

That amount can feed 2.79 million Filipinos, the agency noted.

The International Diabetes Federation reported that one in every 14 Filipino adults was diagnosed with diabetes in 2021, believed to be caused by higher consumption of white rice.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in the Philippines, with 36,039 cases recorded in 2023.

De Mesa pointed out that President Marcos himself was a proponent of a national half-cup rice policy.

As a senator, he introduced Senate Bill No. 1863, or the proposed Anti-Rice Wastage Act of 2013, which proposed fines of P20,000 to P100,000 on restaurants, hotels, and other businesses that refuse to serve half a cup of rice.

The bill, however, was left pending in a Senate committee.

In gov’t offices first

Last year, three House lawmakers filed separate bills mandating commercial establishments to serve half-cup servings of rice.

While waiting for the enactment of such legislation, PhilRice proposed that an EO be issued carrying out a half-cup rice policy in government offices next year.

Should the EO be found to reduce rice wastage significantly across the bureaucracy, then PhilRice may suggest that the policy be implemented nationwide, PhilRice head of development communication Hazel Antonio-Beltran told reporters in a Zoom interview.

Some 46 local governments have passed ordinances to allow food establishments to sell half-cup portions of rice. These include Quezon City, Manila, Davao City, Cebu City and Puerto Princesa City. —with a report from Inquirer Research