Saudi Wants 200,000 Hectares Of PH Ricefield

[high_heels]

My thumbs up for this.

Please do not dwell on the negative side, like " RP farmers cannot sustain or feed our population " this is BS. Since we have sustained ourselves, and we still can. Only these greedy distributors and wholesalers are making the boat flip due to rice hoarding, being kept in warehouses to control the demand/supply, thus increasing revenue. And cheap rice is being imported from other countries ( due to lack of research in RP on how to grow cheaper varieties and increase yield), which will soon be resolved.

But on the current issue, this is actually very helpful for our farmers and Filipino researchers, First, since Saudi will likely fund DA for hybrid Basmati rice production, funding will be millions of dollars, instead of OUR own budget used to fund researches.
Basmati rice was originally grown in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, notable for its fragrance and delicate, nuanced flavour.

Second, this will include propagating Basmati rice varieties that yields twice as much crops per year, thereby doubling farmer income. (Basmati Case Study)


And third, Basmati rice have a medium glycemic index from 55 to 69, and is recommended for Diabetes patients. This can help lower the Diabetes epidemia in the country.

Fourth, 200,000 hectares is relatively a very small area to panic about. So leasing this area for Saudi wouldn't be a big thing. At least we are paid, foreign investment as proceeds to our economy.

bro, i'd like to you to give us a legal reference that our own farmers managed to fully sustain our rice requirements so you can back your claim. How many metric tons did our local farmers harvested for both dry and wet season?

As to the basmati variety, do you know why they want to lease the 200,000 rice farm? Because these countries (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) have provided poor quality rice to its buying countries. Why do I know Because everyone in the high level rice import/export business knows that these countries specially Pakistan has been providing low quality of these rice to its buyers. Even the Philippine order of 500,000 M/T of rice from Pakistan was too bad the importer had to resell it to Mindanao and was selling it for peanuts just to break even.

Now to the issue of lease farming, lease farming means the lands are rented from the farmers and technical application of farming is constrained to the methods required by the investors. It also means that during the post harvest season, all harvested rice is owned by this "investors." So with that said, our farmers will have no take and income from the rice itself (from the lease land though, yes they have). Not a single grain of rice will go to our hardworking filipino farmers, therefore it's Saudi who will take advantage of these basmati rice.

About your statement "Second, this will include propagating Basmati rice varieties that yields twice as much crops per year, thereby doubling farmer income." --- actually we have a better high yielding variety of rice already patented by Bayer and highly recommended by PhilRice to our farmers that provides an average of 6 to 7 M/T per hectare compared to the standard of 2 to 3 M/T...and it is also a healthier choice. Ask any Rice Technician from PhilRice or your nearest Department of Agriculture, I'm sure they will tell you the name of it.

as for this line of yours "Please do not dwell on the negative side, like " RP farmers cannot sustain or feed our population " this is BS. Since we have sustained ourselves, and we still can. Only these greedy distributors and wholesalers are making the boat flip due to rice hoarding, being kept in warehouses to control the demand/supply, thus increasing revenue. And cheap rice is being imported from other countries ( due to lack of research in RP on how to grow cheaper varieties and increase yield), which will soon be resolved. " --- hording is ILLEGAL and a CRIMINAL offense already, if there are stocked rices it is from the warehouses of NFA. Our rice research for the record is even better than other countries, we are even doing technology transfer to other countries.

This is just a disguise of foreign investors taking our land again.

[monroy]

So with that said, our farmers will have no take and income from the rice itself (from the lease land though, yes they have). Not a single grain of rice will go to our hardworking filipino farmers, therefore it's Saudi who will take advantage of these basmati rice.

A lessor-lessee relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship agreed upon by two parties, there is no taking advantage, one side gets something (money) and the other side gets something (use of property) as well.

This is just a disguise of foreign investors taking our land again.

There is also no "our" land.. there is land that belongs to private individuals and land that belongs to the government: your land, my land. In the title to my land, it doesn't include your name what's my land is not "our" land, but mine. My point is, what makes you think you are entitled to tell the farmers what they should do with their land? If they wanna lease it, they can because that is a right of ownership. No person has a right to deny rights to another.

[high_heels]

A lessor-lessee relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship agreed upon by two parties, there is no taking advantage, one side gets something (money) and the other side gets something (use of property) as well.



There is also no "our" land.. there is land that belongs to private individuals and land that belongs to the government: your land, my land. In the title to my land, it doesn't include your name what's my land is not "our" land, but mine. My point is, what makes you think you are entitled to tell the farmers what they should do with their land? If they wanna lease it, they can because that is a right of ownership. No person has a right to deny rights to another.

and you think getting in to this joint venture agreement will help our government in its vision to be rice sufficient by 2013? I don't think so. and by the way, they did mention that it is for LONG TERM LEASE. Do you know how much a land owner is getting from a rented lot compared to maximizing the use of his rice farm with the use of modern rice farming technology? Obviously, more! In the long run we can all sit back and watch how this will deteriorate our very own rice farming industry. Think again!

[monroy]

^ It doesnt matter its not up to you to decide becuase its not your land.

[high_heels]

The truth here is, we have two different sources for rice (imports and locally grown rice). Why? Since our farmers are still in the process of implementing the use of high yielding rice with the help of our DA and PhilRice our government still needs to cover for the lack of supply, therefore the need for import rice.

As long as we are faced with typhoons, flooding, farm lands turned subdivisions/commercial lots and most importantly our growing population of 100 Million then we are forced to be in this situation to plant our own and import at the same time. And having someone else renting our land will only deny us our very own resources to plant our own rice.

[high_heels]

^ It doesnt matter its not up to you to decide becuase its not your land.

it doesn't matter? so what you are saying is every filipino should not give a damn about these concerns? I beg to differ my friend, I care about my "land" and as much as I want to promote foreign investments, this so called opportunity for me is not ideal for our rice-hungry population.

[monroy]

You can give a damn all you want but its still not your right to decide whether the land is leased or not. The land doesnt belong to you so you have no say on this whatsoever. Being self sufficient in rice is another topic and issue. The issue here is with leasing of the land. What the heck is this our land BS? Does the land belong to you? No? Then its not yours...

[high_heels]

You can give a damn all you want but its still not your right to decide whether the land is leased or not. The land doesnt belong to you so you have no say on this whatsoever. Being self sufficient in rice is another topic and issue. The issue here is with leasing of the land. What the heck is this our land BS? Does the land belong to you? No? Then its not yours...

With Pnoy's present administration and Alcala as DA Secretary, I doubt if this gets into second base.

As per your statement....Being self sufficient in rice is another topic and issue. <--- are you sure? this clearly impacts the issue of rice sufficiency. Where do you suggest we plant them? Into thin air?

Yes it is not my right to decide, who am in the first place right? Im just a mere ordinary citizen who saw more of the disadvantages compared to the advantages of this proposal.

So now, do the math on how many metric tons of rice can actually be produced with 200,000 hectares of rice field....granting we have high yielding rice varieties...

1 hectare = 6 M/T so...
6 M/T x 200,000 = 1,200,000 M/T

now imagine how many filipinos can actually take more advantage of this or will be denied of such volume!

and i dont think the government will easily approve of this knowing the scarcity of our very own supply. and do we honestly have the much land to spare to give out to foreign investors? I hope we think hard...we are even marching out of the streets to fight against Chinas claim to scarborough shoal and we can't even see this issue of land abuse? common!

[*sludge*]

we import rice...why is this a good idea?

[bleedingboi]

@ High heels - Can't argue with you bro. I'm not a pessimist. I have studied Genetic botany, and I own a farm, so I definitely know how this idea works and helps. So chillax.