Rice

MANILA, Philippines – Rice importations for next year may be kept within a range of 500,000 metric tons to 860,000 MT.

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.

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Each Filipino wastes an average of three tablespoons of rice daily, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija said yesterday.

EVERY Filipino wastes three tablespoons of rice every day, adding up to at least P23 million worth of daily wastage—so reveals a survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

THE extent of the damage by typhoons Pedring and Quiel to agriculture may have already exceeded the losses from two typhoons two years ago, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.

The National Food Authority (NFA) needs over P21 billion to procure 1,248,000 metric tons of local palay in 2012. But the budget for this procurement in the National Expenditure Program pending before Congress is only P4 billion.

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.

Although it will help advance the country’s drive to attain rice self-sufficiency program, the subsidy for rice seeds given to farmers has been terminated by the Department of Agriculture (DA) because this has been a source of corruption. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said this to The Manila Times.

Statistics show targets are being met but some organizations are doubtful Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is optimistic that through the National Rice Program the country will achieve rice self-sufficiency in 2013. But with only P6.181 billion allocation for the program in 2012, doubts on the possibility of rice sufficiency loom.

MANILA, Philippines – Officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD) met with media on Monday to address them on science helping agriculture.

The Agriculture Department has approved a six-year, P16-billion rice mechanization program that will increase production of the crop by as much as 10 percent annually. The Philippine Center for Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization said it would implement the program from 2011 to 2016 to modernize the postharvest and mechanization processes on a large-scale basis.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P3.430 billion for the Aquino administration’s rice sufficiency program.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – The country is expected to be self-sufficient in rice by 2014 because of good harvests that lessened rice importation, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said during his visit here last week.

This week we read about a confidential administration report, prepared by the National Intelligence Coordination Agency, that warned of a “looming rice crisis” as part of a broader economic debacle caused by rising global food prices. This food price inflation—as my fellow columnist Ric Saludo warns in another broadsheet—is likely to be the real culprit…

Ten years ago Jacky Rowena Tiu was kidnapped for ransom at gunpoint in La Union. Most Chinese-Filipino victims would quietly restart normal lives after such trauma. But not Jacky. Then in her 20s, she bore the emotional drain of trial and threats to family security to prosecute her tormentors. To this day, however, justice has…

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecjia, Philippines  — President Aquino belied yesterday reports of a looming rice crisis and insisted that concerned government agencies claimed that the unrest in North Africa, the Middle East and the disaster in Japan could only affect the prices of food.

THE prices of commercial rice might increase by P2 a kilo as a result of rising fuel prices, the National Food Authority warned Tuesday.

One of President Aquino’s allies in the Senate finds credibility on a possible public unrest caused by falling rice production and rising prices which was reportedly contained in a National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) report submitted to President Aquino.

Intel body cites threat to national security MANILA, Philippines—Rising costs of basic commodities and services in the country and a shrinking rice supply have become a national security concern, according to a report by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will import an additional 300,000 metric tons of rice to prevent a shortage in the latter part of the year, National Food Authority Administrator Angelito Banayo said.

OVER the past few months, the rise in food prices worldwide has put agriculture officials, traders, sellers and consumers on edge as it recalled memories of the food crisis three years ago.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has pledged to contribute 12,000 metric tons (mt) of rice to the ASEAN + 3 rice reserve scheme, National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Angelito Banayo said.

SINGAPORE – The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the spectre of “pest storms” devastating the region’s rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned.

THE National Food Authority (NFA) on Monday said that it might consider importing rice for the next few months to assure stability of supply during the so-called lean months.

Something is very wrong somewhere when a predominantly agricultural country like the Philippines earns the dubious distinction of being the world’s largest rice exporter and the government agency responsible for ensuring rice self-sufficiency racks up a gargantuan P177-billion debt.

THE country’s palay and corn production in 2010 slightly dropped from their respective levels from the previous year as a prolonged dry spell brought by the El Niño phenomenon took its toll on staple crops, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – National Food Authority Administrator Lito Banayo said Friday that he has requested Malacañang to investigate ranking government officials who may be involved in the overpricing of rice imports during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) on Wednesday said it needs P63 billion in the run-up to 2013 to attain the country’s rice sufficiency status by then.

NOT FOR BIRDS ONLY MANILA, Philippines—After 36 years working as a warehouseman, Billy Vallejera believes sparrows are the most serious threat to the country’s rice granaries, their sharp, sack-ripping beaks more than the equal of tiny rice weevils.

ASIAN COUNTRIES need to raise the level of their rice stocks to help stabilize prices and improve food security in a region where 65% of the world’s hungry live, a report said.