Why the Philippines turned into a rice importer

Once upon a time the Philippines exported rice. It prided itself on being the home of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and for teaching scientists from other countries rice production technologies.

That was two decades ago. Today, the country imports rice and struggles for rice self-sufficiency.

The fall of rice production is no surprise. Ask IRRI and it will cite three reasons why this country suffers from rice insufficiency.

IRRI says one reason is the small land area used for rice farming. The land suitable for rice production is limited because the country is mountainous and archipelagic. IRRI says the country has 300,000 square kilometers, but only 43,000 square kilometers are planted to rice.

Another reason is that rice production cannot meet the rice requirement of the growing population. According to IRRI, the country’s population is around 97 million and its annual growth rate of 2 percent is among the highest in the world.

The third reason is the quantity and quality of support infrastructure like irrigation systems, harvest facilities and transport, and roads. All these affect rice production and trade.

The omen of years of rice insufficiency came as early as 1992. Dr. Romulo Virola, secretary general of the National Statistics Coordination Board, reported that the country’s last rice export in 1992 was only 35,101 metric tons (MT). Production was 5.97 million MT, while the rice requirement of the 65.34 million population at that time was 5.7 million MT.

The country started importing rice in 1993, and the volume kept increasing over the years. Data from the National Food Authority (NFA) shows that from 2001 to 2010 rice importation was never lower than 610,000 MT per year, and most of the rice came from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan, whose rice researchers once learned from IRRI.

NFA’s rice importation increased from 650,000 MT in 2001 to 1.14 million MT in 2002. In 2003, importation dropped to 610,000 MT, but it soared to 900,000 MT in 2004, 1.79 million MT in 2005, 1.55 million in 2006, and 1.87 million in 2007.

Rice importation almost doubled in 2008 when there was a rice crisis; the country bought 2.30 million MT. In 2009, importation was reduced to 1.57 million MT, but it increased to 2.25 million MT in 2010, making the country the world’s largest rice importer.

In all, the NFA imported 14,656,129 MT, and the country shelled out over US$6 billion in 10 years for rice alone.

Besides rice importation being a whopping expense, achieving rice self-sufficiency has a huge economic and political importance to the country.

According to the Food Staples Self-sufficiency Roadmap (FSSR) of the Department of Agriculture, one reason why the country must attain rice sufficiency is that traded global rice is getting scarce. “Only 5 to 7 percent of the world’s rice production is exported [because] rice is commonly consumed where it is produced.”

Likewise, rice can only be bought from few sources. FSSR says 84 percent of exported rice is controlled by Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, and the United States. The worrisome effect of this is that “the rice trade is subject to political decisions of a few.”

Another reason for us to achieve self-sufficiency is the increasing global demand for rice. This is because countries that were not rice consumers before are now starting to eat rice. FSSR says that the countries in Africa, for instance, “have exhibited growing demand and are expected to compete with traditional rice-eating countries” like the Philippines.

Moreover, the adverse effects of climate change have caused a global decline in rice production. This means that the country can no longer rely on its traditional rice import sources. They are vulnerable to climate change and “may no longer be reliable suppliers in the future.” –Claire Mercado, Writer-Researcher, Manila Times