Food catastrophe: the day of reckoning for years of neglect
A catastrophe is coming. But it will not be an other pandemic after COVID 19 snatched the lives of 6.31 million people. The UN Secretary General, warned that the coming months threaten “the spectre of a global food shortage” that could last for years.”
Putin’s war against Ukraine turned out to be more disastrous than expected as it did not only cause massive destruction in the war-torn country but triggered a global food crisis.
Prices of staple foods have steadily increased worldwide, raising the number of people who have no assurance of getting enough to eat from 440 million to 1.6 billion and nearly 250million are on the brink of famine.
The Philippines is a net importer of rice. In 2020, it was ranked 4thlargest importer and 83rd largest exporter in the world. This clearly shows the country’s dependence on rice importation to fill in its demand.
Some groups blame the government’s small budget for agriculture as the main reason for the sector’s low productivity. But incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno cited studies showing that the performance of the sector has little to do with their budget and has everything to do with policy strategy and implementation. He noted that in 2017 and 2018, the Department of Agriculture posted disbursement rates at 55.1% and 66.2%, respectively.
Policy strategy and implementation indeed counts. Research conducted by the Asia Foundation shows that Filipino consumers were paying more for a kilogram of rice than any of their ASEAN neighbors and yet the farmers in the Philippines remained the poorest sector in the country. Since the 1980’s, a consensus has been growing that rent-seeking and restrictive trade and regulatory policies have hindered the Philippine rice sector.
The monopoly created by the government it-self through the National Food Authority did not improve, rather, it worsened problems in the rice sector. The researchers observed that NFA’s pol-icy of “buy high and sell low” was selectively implemented and favored those who were aligned with the incumbent administration. The policy, according to the study, was used for political patronage and did not contribute to the general welfare of the farmers and the consumers.
In 2018, the Philippine rice crisis has caused the great awakening of the policy makers leading to the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) in the following year. The logic is simple: liberalize rice importation to lower the prices of rice in the market while the revenue from tariffs will be used to modernize the agriculture sector. But the law has been at the receiving end of attacks from those who are adversely affected.
With barely three years of implementation, we are yet to see significant improvements resulting from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund generated from the 35 percent tariff from imported rice under the RTL.
The looming food catastrophe highlights the importance of food security and the primacy of agriculture. The RTL could have been a silver lining to a sector decimated by neglect. But with the limitation of exports imposed by other countries, the Philippines will be left on its own to solve an impending food shortage. This may leave us weeping and gnashing our teeth.