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The Philippines has urged Asian governments to hold talks on the
sharply escalating cost of food, officials said Friday as China
rebuffed a bid by Manila to buy wheat.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap wants a
ministerial-level meeting of Asian governments to discuss means to
raise food production and provide interim food aid, the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.
“We must address the plight of food-poor
families in the countries most affected by the rice price crisis,”
an institute statement quoted Yap as telling its board of trustees
meeting this week.
The board of the world’s premier rice research
institute met at its headquarters in Los Baños town, south of
Manila, to discuss ways of easing rising rice prices that have swept
the region and caused unrest in some countries.
The institute warned that rice prices were
likely to keep rising for some time as production fails to keep up
with soaring demand.
Manila, one of the world’s biggest rice
importers, has been struggling to procure enough rice for its 86
million people. Filipino rice farms are mainly small plots and
cannot meet domestic food needs.
Producers warned Friday that bread, noodles and
processed meat prices are likely to follow rice prices in coming
weeks as Trade Secretary Peter Favila said China had turned down a
Philippine request to buy wheat.
This will force the government to buy more
expensive wheat from the United States.
“I am saddened that China did not grant our
request, and I have already received official communication to that
effect. They did not give any reason. They just said the demand in
China is also large,” he said.
Kevin Cleaver from the UN International Fund for
Agricultural Development, met with President Gloria Arroyo in Manila
earlier Friday to discuss implications of the food crisis on the
Philippines.
Cleaver said “in some 33 countries there is
now civil disturbance, food riots caused by food shortages and
higher prices. This is one of the subjects we discussed.”
He said people were suffering because the
“price of rice and food has increased and we discussed a little
bit what to do about that,” adding he and Mrs. Arroyo agreed a
solution was to ramp up production.
The President has pledged to make rice supplies
available to every Filipino, drafting the military to distribute
supplies and crack down on hoarders.
She said the government had a plan for better
irrigation facilities, according to Cleaver. That will help in the
coming year but the shorter-term problem was more difficult to cure,
he said.
-- AFP
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