Domino effect of rice tariffication bill

For Filipinos, rice is life. No self-respecting Pinoy would eat adobo or sinigang without it. Chefs could concoct fancy recipes pairing kare-kare with bread, for example, but it will never really sell, or at least not as much as tapsilog. It’s a staple for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Come merienda time, there’s arroz caldo, ginataang bilu-bilo and bibingka — still an all-rice affair. In short, no Pinoy meal would be complete without it.

If we want to find a long-term solution to our rice problems, we have to go back to our roots and look to the past for possible solutions

For a country with a large population that is dependent on rice, it is ironic that the government is seriously considering to liberalize rice importation, rather than focusing to help local farmers through the use of new farming technology and applications and achieve rice self-sufficiency.

As of this writing, the rice tariffication bill, or Senate Bill 1998, is about to lapse unless President Duterte signs it into law. The bill was transmitted to Malacañang last 15 January and the President has 30 days to sign a bill into law or veto it after receiving it from Congress.

If enacted into law, the measure will remove all government safety measures and programs designed to help millions of Filipino farmers and poor consumers. Liberalizing rice importation could affect more than two million farmers and about 6,000 rice millers who employ about 55,000 workers.

We also need to consider the domino effect of the bill on other industries that rely on rice production, such as animal feeds and the beer industry, as well as biomass, the construction sector, to name a few.

While the government says the bill will create a P10-billion rice competitiveness fund, there is no assurance that it will be awarded to farmers who lose their livelihood because of the influx of imported rice.

If importation becomes the priority, we may lose grasp of the possible long-term solution which is to find a better way to produce it locally.

Clearly, the issue at hand is in how to help Filipino farmers improve rice productivity if they are to compete against rice importers amid the impending approval of the Rice Tariffication Bill.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said without “intervention” local rice farmers cannot expect to compete against cheaper imports.

He added if we immediately implement liberalization even before the interventions could reach our farmers and even before they could improve their productivity, it could lead to the death of the rice industry.

These are alarming statements and I feel for our Filipino farmers. All their hard work will be for naught if they just get overtaken and consumed by the rice importation industry.

If we want to find a long-term solution to our rice problems, we have to go back to our roots and look to the past for possible solutions.

I can still remember in the early ’60s, when the Philippines was ahead of the curve and at the very forefront of pioneering scientific research on rice that successfully introduced high-yielding varieties to the country.

At that time, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was an innovative project, advanced in its study of agriculture. Working at the newly established IIRRI, in Los Baños, Laguna, scientists worldwide developed a type of rice that produced heavy heads of grain that grew on short, robust stalks able to bear the weight of the grain without toppling over.

This rice variety, called IR-8, required intensive irrigation, plenty of fertilizer and chemical pesticides, to flourish. And the results were phenomenal: Output doubled and Filipinos were overjoyed because this seemed to be the saving grace that the country needed for its agriculture. In fact, it was reported that between 1962 and 1964 and 1983 and 1985, with steady increases in between, rice yields rose from 1.24 to 2.48 metric tons of palay per hectare.

The increase was spectacular and unprecedented. For the first time, the chance to effect real equitable change in the lives of the poor was within the government’s grasp.

Another successful rice project that perhaps the government can emulate is the Masagana 99 rice program during the Marcos years. It succeeded in growing more rice and achieving self-sufficiency, albeit for only a brief period immediately after the program was launched in 1973.

Through M-99, national average palay yields dramatically increased 10 percent during the wet season and 25 percent during the dry season compared with the immediately preceding crop years.

I believe the government can adopt these rice programs as a model instead of focusing too much on importation.

It’s time to think out of the box and look for more creative and scientifically advanced ideas.

It’s about time we step up our game on the technology side and start producing our own rice.

Local farmers must also be given assistance to apply for a loan or become entrepreneurial and eventually eliminate the need for third-party lenders that loan at high interest rates.

The Philippine Rice Research Institute, more known for its invention and promotion of hybrid rice seeds, has been tinkering with the computer to develop mobile and desktop applications for some time now. The government should tap their expertise to help farmers achieve rice self-sufficiency.

These ideas, if carefully studied, could help alleviate rice shortage and allow heavy-rice eating Filipinos order full “extra rice,” a common request whenever we go to our favorite eatery. As many of our kababayans would loudly say, “Miss! Isa pang extra rice!”