Aquino: PH self-sufficient in rice by end of year

DAVOS, Switzerland—President Benigno Aquino sees the Philippines, the world’s largest importer of rice, attaining full self-sufficiency and even turning into an exporter before this year is over.

That is, assuming that the country will enjoy benign weather this year, Aquino said Thursday night in a private session tackling anti-corruption initiatives at the World Economic Forum annual meeting here.

“From importing almost two-and-a-half million metric tons of rice in 2010, now, if the weather permits, we are looking at full rice self-sufficiency—and even the possibility of exporting it—by the end of this year,” Aquino said during the forum.

This long-time quest for rice self-sufficiency was mentioned by the President in the context of reforms pursued by his administration in the operations of the National Food Authority, the government agency tasked to ensure rice self-sufficiency.

Aquino said his predecessor had allowed the NFA’s debt to balloon to $4.4 billion from $300 million over the course the former President’s nine-year term, insisting on importing more rice than was needed to feed the people.

“So you had a staggering amount of debt, and rice that no one would eat, rotting in warehouses that the government, of course, had to pay rent for. Any sane and reasonable person would not have done this, but it was done, and that was the reality we had to deal with. This insanity was justified by convincing our people that we were not capable of feeding ourselves through tilling our own land, hence the necessity of importing rice,” he said.

Since his administration assumed office, Aquino said, more funds were plowed into irrigation, arterial roads, research into higher-yielding varieties, and other technologies, making this goal of self-sufficiency viable.

A study on the Philippine rice situation made last year by Asian Development Bank consultants noted that  the  Philippines continued to grapple with significant food insecurity. “Years of preoccupation with rice self-sufficiency and rice supply and price stabilization have not made a dent on the problem,” the study said.

Some of the food insecurity stems from rice supply issues and high domestic prices. Some of these may not have been apparent in recent years but the research said current trade policies do not augur well for long-term supply and price stability.

The ADB research dated January 2012 noted that in the early 1990s, the government was importing too little and consumers generally paid high prices for rice. In 1995, it said, the government imported too late, initially restricting imports but only to see domestic prices spike up, consumers getting alarmed, and the government eventually scrambling to restore stability in the market.

“Thereafter, the government has imported aggressively and domestic prices have moved considerably closer to international prices in the last three years. But the supply stability achieved had cost too much, bloating the NFA’s losses and borrowings and drawing attention to the fact that the strategy is unsustainable,” the research said.

At the same time, the ADB research pointed out that the country’s susceptibility to natural calamities—typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions—that disrupt domestic rice production and distribution were complicating the supply stability equation.

The ADB research said rice self-sufficiency strategies should support a bigger program for broad, income-enhancing, and sustainable agricultural growth.