No rice, please
Are Filipinos now on a strictly no-rice diet or a no-carb diet?
Statistics say otherwise. The Philippines is a major rice
consumer, with an average rice consumption of 133 kilograms per
person annually. This average consumption translates to 14,630
metric tons of rice consumption every year.
The staple diet in every Filipino home may become less
visible at the dining table as the country continues to bear its
increasing prices.
With rice now selling from P56 to P65 a kilo, those politicians
who anchored their campaign on lowering its price to P20 per kilo
must be scampering for band-aid solutions as it becomes evident
that the government has failed to implement a long-term or
sustainable solution to keep its price within a range affordable to
the masses.
According to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report,
impoverished populations depend on rice for their daily caloric
intake, including those in the Philippines, to avoid Vitamin A
deficiency. This health condition is a major source of blindness
and can lead to other diseases, particularly for vulnerable
populations such as young children and pregnant women.
We are not on a fad diet. We are suffering from the
government’s continuous neglect of the agriculture sector.
Studies show that the total land area used for palay cultivation in
the Philippines from 2016 to 2021 ranged from 4.56 to 4.81
million hectares. With an average yield of 4.11 metric tons per
hectare, local rice production must have been sufficient for the
local demand.
Instead of relying on the production capacity and capability
that we already have, the government plans to import 1.3 million
metric tons of rice to shield the country from the combined
impact of typhoons, the El Niño phenomenon, and Russia’s
withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain initiative.
The Philippines used to have rice self-sufficient status from
the 1970s to 1980s. Experts say that the country failed to sustain
this status due to its failure to modernize the rice industry, the
government’s faulty import policies, extreme weather events, and
a lack of support for farmers who remain among the country’s
poorest. (Mara Cepeda, thestar.com.my)
Certainly, most of us are not on a diet. We are on the brink
of hunger and food crisis. When we say, “No rice, please”, to
some or most Filipinos, it really means there is nothing to eat.