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The National Foods Authority (NFA) is eyeing the importation of rice
from the United States under the Export Credit Guarantee Program
(GSM-102) of that country.
GSM-102 provides credit terms for the purchase
of US agriculture products by foreign buyers, in this case, the
Philippines.
NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro said about $65
million worth of grains is being eyed by his agency from the US
under GSM 102, of which the tenders will be done in American soil.
Based on the projections of the Department of
Agriculture, the country can attain a 95-percent self-sufficiency in
rice by 2009 or 2010, which will make necessary the importation of
the grains.
“We have a growing population and I think we
already have 90 million [people] now. So it would be hard to achieve
a 100 percent self sufficiency in [domestic] rice production,”
said Frisco Malabanan, Director of the Agriculture Department’s
GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Rice Program.
Navarro said that besides the US and other
countries where the country traditionally imports grains, the NFA is
also eyeing Cambodia as a source of the Filipino’s staple food.
No food shortages assured
While the country is not expected to achieve
100-percent self-sufficiency in rice production in the next two
years, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the Philippines will
not be hard-hit by rising food prices in the international market
and a worldwide shortage in the production of certain agriculture
products.
“The country is not among the nine countries
in Asia that will be hit by rising food prices and shortages,” Yap
said.
A former NFA administrator said only 1 percent
of rice production is traded, which means a shortfall in the
worldwide production of grains can spell disaster for countries that
depend on imports for their basic food needs.
Nonetheless, the Agriculture secretary said the
government is still concerned over the situation where international
food prices are rising. It is for this reason that the government
will be holding a National Food Security summit in the early part of
April this year.
The summit will gather stakeholders of the
country’s agriculture sector, like businessmen, farmers and
various government agencies supporting food production.
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