Rice – is it enough for everyone?

By Agnes Españo-Dimzon
Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI)

(First of a series)

High production costs, limited earnings of farmers, unfriendly environmental factors and an apathetic government could spell the end of the country's rice industry. Reason enough for the folk song “Planting rice is never fun”.

In the Philippines, rice is eaten two to three times every day. This is so, despite researches showing that the country's terrain, soil type and climate are friendlier to growing root crops which is said to have been the staple food of ancient Filipinos. Filipinos today may try to subsist on root crops and other substitutes when rice is not available, but would crave for it at least once during the day.

It's the same thing with other countries in Asia where, as US diplomat Christopher W. Runckel said, “more than 90% of the world's rice is grown and consumed”. In fact, nearly 500 million tons of rice was consumed in Asia last year.

Not enough rice

Last year, Filipino farmers produced 188,458,192 bags of rice. Of these, about 196,921,250 bags were consumed and 12,249,783 went to animal feeds or wastage and other uses. This left the country with a total deficit of 28,464,325 bags.

In Iloilo province where the bulk of rice production in Western Visayas comes from, 25,166,297 bags were produced in 2004. About 18,399,750 bags were consumed, 1,131,365 were used as seeds and about 1,635,809 bags went to feeds and/or wastage. It left a surplus of 3,999,373 bags.

For the past five years (2000-2004), Western Visayas is the third top producer of rice in the whole country putting in 12.96% of the total rice production. Region 3 comes first with 18.73% and Region 2 with 13.74%.

But records at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in Lapuz, Lapaz district here registered two arrivals of imported rice from Vietnam this year – 120,288 bags in March 27, 2005 and 70,168 bags on August 12, 2005.

National Food Authority (NFA) – Region 6 manager Javier Lozada said, “We import rice only to provide for the shortage during the lean months”.

He said the government imports rice because the country does not produce enough for its needs. This is why there is a constant lack even in provinces with surplus production like Iloilo.

“Iloilo often has surplus production but traders may receive a demand to transport rice to provinces like Negros and Cebu to cover their deficit. We abide by the principle of free trade,” said Mr. Lozada.

Of the country's 15 regions last year, only six had surplus production totaling 35,010,403 bags or 1.7 million metric tons. The rest had a total 63.5 million metric tons deficit. National Capital Region which is the country's government and business center had a deficit of 1.6 metric tons or 32,404,700 bags.

Officials said this yearly deficit started in the late 1980's -- even before Mt. Pinatubo erupted and left thousands of hectares of rice lands in the central Luzon provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac covered with lahar. Mr. Lozada said the government does not want a repeat of the situation in 1995 when people lined up NFA stations across the country for rations of rice.

Skewed policies, wrong priorities

But farmer Jun Provido who chairs the Regional Farmers Action Council (RFAC) that represents farmers groups in the management committee of the NFA, enumerated the following factors behind the constant decrease in rice production -- conversion of agricultural lands to commercial and residential uses, the drought that comes almost every year, regular typhoons and floods, and the skyrocketing prices of oil-based commercial fertilizers and pesticides.

“More than anything else, the government should invest in support services for agriculture – especially irrigation facilities – if rice farming is to survive,” he said. “The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) practically no longer provides irrigation services. It could not force us to pay our annual irrigation dues because we hardly get any water,” he added.

Iloilo has several river systems – 150 rivers and creeks are possible sources of irrigation water – but water has become scant, especially during the dry months of December to May.

Mr. Provido's five-hectare farm is located at barangay Inagdangan in Zarraga town, about 25 kilometers north of Iloilo City, which is at the tail-end of the irrigation canal fed by the Jalaur River system, the province's major source of irrigation water.

“My farm usually gets flooded because of too much water during the monsoon months of August to November, and becomes dry during the time when it badly needs water in the months of December and January,” he added.

Harvest for the first cropping usually falls on the months of September and October, and in January and February for the second cropping. Water supply needs to be regulated carefully during these periods. Heavy rains can spoil unstored palay or unmilled rice during harvest time in September and October. Poorly dried palay fetches a lower price. On the other hand, adequate water is necessary to sustain the growth and flowering of rice plants in the months of December to January so they can ripen well for harvesting.

Most of the time, too, inadequate water can spark off bloody disputes in the farming towns of Panay Island where Iloilo is located. The local media often report of shooting and hacking incidents over irrigation water in the rice fields of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan and Capiz. (To be continued)