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Filipino farmers on Wednesday warned of a worsening
rice crisis and said prices were expected to soar amid an expected
lean harvest next month.
Based on their own estimates,
production output would only be 1.9 million metric tons that will
last only two months, said Jimmy Tadeo, chairman of the National
Rice Farmers’ Council.
The same period last year saw
production in excess of two million metric tons, but “there was no
global shortage then,” Tadeo added.
He said he expects the price of
rice per kilo will go as high as P40 (about a dollar) from the
present P18 (less than 50 cents) during the traditional “lean
months” from July to September.
Tadeo called on farmers to put
aside some of their harvests for personal consumption, because, he
said, they too will be hit by prices that “will be more unbearable
for them.”
Rice, the staple food for the
country’s 90-million population, is considered as a political
commodity and any fluctuations in price and shortages in supply
could potentially touch off unrest, analysts have warned.
The government this week
announced it was importing rice from neighboring Asian countries,
amid a global supply crunch.
President Gloria Arroyo on
Tuesday acknowledged the country was a “price-sensitive nation”
and ordered raids against rice hoarders in a bid to keep the prices
steady.
But Jessica Cantos of the local
Rice Watch and Action Network, a group tracking developments in the
farm sector, said the government must instead focus on helping
farmers modernize for bigger yields instead of relying on imports.
She said the government must also
buy “rice directly from rice farmers at prices higher than the
trader’s offer” instead of letting its rice-buying arm (National
Food Authority) negotiate with middlemen.
To guarantee ample supply of rice
in the months ahead, the Department of Agriculture and its
Vietnamese counterpart signed an agreement also on Wednesday for the
country to import up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese white
rice annually for three years.
The signing of the agreement by
Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Vietnamese Industry
and Trade Minister Yu Huy Hoang was made on the sidelines of the
two-day 2008 Philippine Reform Agenda Forum, which ends today.
President Arroyo, Trade Secretary
Peter Favila, and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves witnessed the
exchange of notes between the Philippines and Vietnam.
Yap said the rice imports from
Vietnam will help beef up the National Food Authority’s stockpile
and guarantee enough stock of the commodity amid the tightening of
rice supply in the world market.
Both countries agreed to take
“strict measures” to stop illegal rice trading between them,
with the Vietnam Southern Food Corp. and the food authority to
implement the agreement for three years.
The agreement will be
automatically renewed for another three years, unless terminated by
either of the parties through diplomatic channels six months before
to the intended date of termination.
The Vietnamese commitment will be
complemented by the move of the United States’ Department of
Agriculture to increase the Philippines’ credit commodity program
to $75 million, clearing the way for an additional 100,000 metric
tons of US rice into the Philippines, and ensuring that the country
has an adequate supply of rice in retail markets.
--Ira Karen Apanay And AFP
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