The Philippine Rice Crisis

[pandisal]

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seriously... one of the article included on the Yap denying about his family on rice trading, is about the ADB partly responsible on our agriculture problem (asside from the fertilizer scam - kung tinuod to) :



http://www.philstar.com/index.php?He...id=20080328163


ADB to blame

An international organization advocating the prominence of food policy in governments said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also to blame for the rice crisis because of its restrictive loan conditions.

The Asia Pacific Network on Food Sovereignty (APNFS) said the loan requirements set by the ADB and other financial support institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have forced less developed countries to re-orient domestic policies to the detriment of rice sufficiency.

“The ADB must be held accountable to the growing food insecurity in developing countries. Since its founding in 1967, the ADB had financed countless agricultural projects but weakened farmers and communities instead of strengthening them,” Arze Glipo, convener of APNFS, said.

APNFS’s 11 member-countries are Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

“The ADB supported the commodification of rice, application of market mechanisms and the price system in agriculture, and trade liberalization,” she said. “The ADB is guilty of compromising food security.”

“Bangladesh and Philippines are on the same track. Bangladesh, like the Philippines, has a very high potential to produce (food) on its own. But due to the loan conditionalities imposed by the ADB, Bangladesh is now a net food-importer,” she said.

Glipo said Bangladesh, which has a population of around 130 million, imports some two million metric tons of rice while the Philippines, which has a population of around 85 million, imports just as much.

She admitted that other factors explain the rice shortage, such as climate change and the growing global population.

“The ADB intended to change the rice policy of the Philippines. The ADB aimed to change domestic policies to make them in line with the free trade paradigm,” Glipo said.

“We don’t have food sovereignty, that’s why we don’t have food security. Our government does not have the political will to implement policies that would make us achieve rice sufficiency and food security,” Glipo said.

[ajol]

And that is exactly the ISSUE , its WORLDWIDE RICE SHORTAGE pero some people here are bitching , crying , whining over it because its the GOVERNMENTS FAULT through PGMA's screw ups . LOLZ !

Too late to pin the blame....

That is why this THREAD is about PREPARING..... not blaming as you would want it....

[ajol]

what should the agriculture secretary have done if you were in his shoes?

I hope its still in google......

In Butuan City... farmers were given probiotic soil enrichment which gave 20-30% improvement in rice yield per hectare with less fertilizer needed.

Unless you want to recall the Fertilizer SCAM.... of course thats another story.....

But this thread is all about PREPARING..... too late to pin down the blame....

[ajol]

here is the article..... TAKE NOTE this was 2005

BIOTECHNOLOGY HIKES BUTUAN PALAY HARVEST
by Mike Crismundo
23-September-2005 Manila Bulletin


BUTUAN CITY - A "green revolution" is going on in Caraga's farms, thanks to the adoption of biotechnology in rice farming by City Mayor Democrito Plaza II.

Last year, during the second-crop planting, Mayor Plaza decided to convince some 600 farmers to inoculate their palay seedlings with an organic enzyme produced by a licensee of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.

The nitrogen-fixing inoculant cuts the need for chemical fertilizers in half. This means an instant cost saving of P 3,500 per hectare.

The palay stalks were so green and robust when harvest came in April and May, the farms yielded harvest of 20-25 percent higher than their usual yield.

The farmers not only spent less on chemical fertilizer, but they also earned an additional P8-10, 000 more per hectare.

This was a big boost to farmers' incomes especially because the average landholding of palay farmers was only two to three hectares each.

For Mayor Plaza, fondly called "Boy Daku" by his constituents, it was doubly satisfying because the producer of the modern farm biotechnology, Summa Biotechnologies, had chosen his city as the site of its laboratory and plant.

Its CEO, Luis Guillen, who studied agricultural economics in UP Los Baños, is from the city. He chose his city as the location for the first plant of its agricultural products.

This had so elated the mayor that he scraped meager resources to replicate the first experiment in 750 farms last June, and with the health palay stalks awaiting harvest this November, Mayor Plaza is certain Butuan's farmers will harvest much more palay.

A virtual revolution in farm technology has been going on in Butuan City, which now has 4,000 hectares of irrigated rice farms.

Seeing the results of the first application of the palay inoculant, the regional office of the Department of Agriculture in Caraga, through officer-in-charge, Ricardo Regis, also allotted some 2,000 hectares in three municipalities of Agusan del Norte, another three in Surigao del Sur and one in Agusan del Sur for the new technology.

Together with DA's extension workers, Butuan-based firm conducted training seminars for the farmers in these municipalities.

The farmers who adopted the technology with the assistance of the department are now awaiting a bumper palay harvest.

http://www.bic.searca.org/news/2006/sep/phi/23.html

[amingb]

Atik2x raman intown nang Rice Shortage mga negosyante syndicato man nagpakalat anang storyaha.

Puerting daghana bugas gitagoan sa mga Insek. Ang problema kay kunsabo taga NFA. Mao nani karon gi ATAY nata ani.

[Rance]

Nene Pimentel open his mouth on that allegations againts Sec Yap.. ang tiguwang wan a gyud mabuhat tawn.

[Tattva]

daghan man cguro ug alternative sa rice.

Naa na ra ba sa benguet kanang vegetable noodles,hehehe.

[nirpz]

mahal na jd ang ganador..i wonder why nisaka sd ang puso nga wa mn nisaka ang NFA rice dats what ive heard froom the news..well they r taking advantages..gamay na kaayo ang puso uy!

[TAMB0K]

way lain trabaho ning senate except blame the president hahaha mga ugok! basi iblame sad nila ang president sa global warming, sa population explosion, sa mortality and morbidity of the country.

[godsaint]

Id rather blame evil Gloria than blame mother nature.