Phl now rice self-sufficient, says P-Noy

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Philippines will no longer be needing rice imports as it is already nearing a self-sufficiency stage, President Aquino said yesterday in a panel discussion with chief executive officers of top companies.

“Our agriculture minister has made a guarantee that there will be no need to import rice. It was not a radical change, but what we did was that we did what was only necessary. Ours is a very basic step,” he told a forum attended mostly by businessmen.

Again, Aquino took a swipe at his predecessor Gloria Arroyo who made importing rice as government policy, even if this was unnecessary, where tons of unused and rotting rice have been found in warehouses when he took over in June 2010.

“Well, the previous administration gave us a legacy of tremendous problems and perhaps a totally different orientation. Their focus was mostly achieving political stability, meaning keeping themselves in power rather than doing that which is right,” he said.

He told moderator Diane Brady, senior editor at Bloomberg, that his administration has changed all these. “We have to change as part of the transformative character of our administration, a lot of the concepts.”

“In terms of food security, I’m very pleased to note that our agricultural minister is already giving us a guarantee that there is no need for further importation of rice,” Aquino assured.

He maintained that the Philippines has a rice buffer for the next 100 days till 2012.

“With the next harvest due January, we will have an excess over that which is mandated as strategic reserve in terms of rice. And what was done was not radical changes but rather just doing what was necessary,” he stressed.

Aquino explained that all they did was to help farmers by providing them the necessary inputs – like giving them genuine seeds – so that the Philippines would attain self-sufficiency of the staple eventually, instead of pursuing a continuous export policy.

“So all of these very basic steps led to three quarters of bumper harvests enough that gives us that measure over and above that which is necessary for the first quarter of 2012,” he bragged.

In Tarlac City recently, Aquino hinted that with the straight path that his government has been observing for the last 17 months, the Philippines may again be exporting rice to other countries, and ultimately do away with yearly importations.

In a speech delivered at the 8th National Organic Agriculture Conference at the Aquino Center of their family-owned Hacienda Luisita, he commended Agriculture Secretary Proceso for a job well done, noting that the agency has reduced from 1.3 million metric tons to mere 600,000 MT the country’s imports for 2011.

The last time the Philippines had been exporting rice to other countries was in the early 80s during the time of the late President Marcos.

Aquino nevertheless assured farmers that the country’s supply for the staple food is stable for the forthcoming holidays (Christmas and New Year) and that no shortages are expected since the government has enough buffer for the rice demand. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)