‘High-value crops, not rice key to agri sector success’

Increasing rice production is not the key for the Philippines to become competitive in the Asean Economic Community (AEC), according to Dr. William Dar, who once headed the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and founded the InangLupa Movement in the Philippines.

Respected much for his views on the agriculture sector, Dar said that while the Philippines can attain 100-percent rice self-sufficiency, it won’t make the country competitive in the Asean region because the farmgate prices of palay in the country remain high. Also, the country’s neighbors have been earning dollars from exporting high-value crops.