Rice is red, Farmers are blue...

This week we have been tormented by news about corruption in the Department of Agriculture.  Corruption is a wornout word in Manila.  We have been up in arms with it for so long while it crept through our system like the birth of identical twins.

The Philippines, which consumes about l3 million tons of rice a year, is the world's biggest rice importer to-date. It sounds absurd how a third world country, with a staple food of rice, with surplus of labor, cannot produce it's own need.  Doesn't it raise a red flag?!

Some opinions from different political figures/analyst about the subject:
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr, "Assuming that there is really a need to import rice, the correct procedures must be followed. We cannot tolerate a practice wherein they engage in importation without passing through the usual bidding process" Read more

Benjamin Diokno talks about an alternative, "Abolish NFA and get serious with agricultural modernization. In the event of rice shortage, bid out the right to import to the private sector. But winning bidders will have to pay import taxes – real, not imaginary taxes. Let the winning bidders sell the imported rice at market clearing prices... The present rice policy has another evil effect: it exacerbates joblessness in the country. Since importing rice is known to be the preferred mode of the government, Filipino farmers are discouraged from aggressively planting rice. But every time we import rice from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, we are creating jobs abroad and giving up jobs at home. For a labor surplus economy like the Philippines, that’s unacceptable."  Read more

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI): "The adoption of a combine harvester-thresher and direct seeding will lower the cost of producing rice, thereby making rice production in the Philippines more competitive with other rice economies.  Promoting the competitiveness of rice production in the Philippines is vital to increasing farmers' income and reducing the consumer price of rice.  Adoption of these technologies will also reduce much of the drudgery in rice cultivation. The disadvatage of adopting these technologies is that there will be less employment.  Thus, while rice farmers strive to be more competitive, it is also important that the nonfarm sector create jobs for agricultural laborers."  Read more