Our rice production cost is really up so that P20 per kilo isn’t possible right now. However, if the socio-politico-eco conditions improve, rice could be had between P25 and P35 by the masses.

Well, if that happens, it’s manna for certain, because 60 percent of our people’s income goes to food. With cheaper rice, more quantity will be available for the family which may increase individual intake and lead to a healthier life.

To achieve that, palay production cost must be in the range of P6-P7 per kilogram. Currently, however, farmers spend about P9-P10 a kilo. Milled rice is at P21.50. But how do we reach that point to make everybody happy? Let me share some observations.

The farmers’ average age is above 60. Few of their children want to be farmers. Even youngsters from the Cordilleras have their sights set on the big cities, to make money in white collar jobs. Their mindset is to find their luck in the urban centers, which consequently raises crime rates and exponentially increases the squatter density in the metropolis. Others go abroad, take low paying, dirty and risky jobs in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

Inflation and the ongoing wars push up global prices of rice inputs like fertilizer and pesticides triggered by crude oil price hikes. With the Middle East war expanding, perhaps it’s WWIII starting. I see it that way too, the undeclared world war.

Global rice prices increased from $400 to $500 due to political-economic issues with China, which built 11 dams restricting irrigation water from the Mekong River to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, snaking down to Vietnam and ending in the South China Sea.

Domestically, the government shares the biggest responsibility for why we continue to be the world’s biggest rice importer. In 1990-91, the Masagana 99 program failed and led many rural banks into bankruptcy. It was during the period that government offices were devolved, particularly hitting the Agriculture department very hard.

We’ve got to have a national government program that subsidizes farm production, and is appropriately funded, aggressive and sustainable. Not “ningas cogon” and for press release only.

Tillers’ lack of easy access to government financing or borrowing from mandated agencies is like climbing Mt. Everest. Applications are too messy, difficult and system un-friendly which leads to the poor borrowers relying for funding on greedy and opportunistic traders, usurers and five-six lenders.

Obviously, there’s a lack of innovation, in particular, of technology and mechanization in the rice industry. We remain in the early 1800s way of rice farming. Right now, the sight of mechanized farming is mere chance.

For instance, DA-Region 8 kept the farmer association that requested a farm tractor in limbo or eternal waiting. Mechanization is a critical component of a successful program and should be handled by a strong central office, not regional offices, and not only by expert and knowledgeable officials but honest and incorruptible ones.

Going hybrid makes sense. It gives an average yield of about nine tons per hectare, in both the wet and dry seasons. The average yield of inbred for both seasons must be 4-5 tons per hectare while the yield of hybrid during the dry season is 9-12 tons per hectare. Hybrid, however, does not work during the wet season due to bacterial leaf blight, a fungal bacterial disease with no known cure.

We need more rice production hectarage. Lend state lands to farmers for free. Vietnam’s yield is almost the same as the Philippines, but their hectarage is larger than ours. Vietnam has the Mekong River, we don’t. The DA’s task is to ensure that the National Irrigation Administration is up to the task of creating a well-developed infrastructure for water-source irrigating rice farms.

If we really want a sufficient and stable rice supply at affordable prices, between P25 and P30 a kilo, let’s do it.

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