Rice self-sufficiency program takes backseat

INSTEAD of focusing on the ambitious rice self-sufficiency program, the Department of Agriculture (DA) should work to improve the entire agriculture sector to achieve Malacanang’s dream of inclusive growth, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said on Tuesday.

“By itself, ‘yung rice [self-] sufficiency target is a worthy objective, but it cannot also by itself increase the productivity of the entire agricultural sector. Since we want inclusive growth, and since we accept that a big number of Filipinos are in the agricultural sector—namely farmers and fisherfolk—then to achieve inclusive growth, we will have to work at improving the productivity of the entire agricultural sector, and not just of rice farmers,” the Palace official told reporters.