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One
cannot help but feel sorry for Art Yap, who is among the
youngest members of the Arroyo Cabinet. His stint as
Agriculture secretary has been marred by controversy not
just once but twice, and both times due to circumstances
beyond his control. As Aggie chief prior to the Hyatt 10
incident of July 2005, his family found itself
scandalously accused by the administration itself of
evading millions of pesos in taxes; fortunately for the
Yaps they were later cleared of charges.
Art had
to leave the Cabinet for a while because of that, but
was later rehabilitated and revived initially as
presidential staff. Now he is back at Agriculture, just
in time to face a worsening food crisis. Of late, he has
been bearing the brunt of criticisms for the problem
with local rice production and rising food prices—the
result of a worldwide shortage not only of the grain but
also of wheat, feeds and other food such as dairy
products. It won’t be surprising if Art decides to call
it quits soon. Twice bludgeoned by controversy, a
Cabinet official can endure only so much.
But he
seems to enjoy the President’s confidence, and perhaps
he has gained enough fortitude over the years in public
service to take the present crisis as a challenge to get
things done. One can only suppose that a plan is in the
offing to ensure food security, and not necessarily just
rice self-sufficiency. Other than food, corn and wheat
supplies are also of significant concern. Somehow, for a
farming country, the
Philippines
doesn’t seem to enjoy self-sufficiency in corn, the
basic ingredient for livestock feed. As such, erratic
corn supply affects feed as well as livestock prices—and
eventually, food prices and consumer spending.
Wheat,
meanwhile, is something that does not grow locally. As
such, the country is heavily dependent on imports. And
while it may now have enough foreign exchange to import
its requirements, world supply is low. Prices are high,
and wheat producers would rather retain than export the
commodity to ensure their respective economies’ food
security. The problem is, most instant noodle products
as well as breads are all using wheat for flour. And
with instant-noodles now the cheapest food available
locally, bottlenecks in wheat supply and escalating
world prices will necessarily impact on local food
supply and prices.
In the
mid-1990s a meeting was held at the Department of Trade
and Industry on the issue of the
Philippines’
export-sugar quota for the United States. In attendance
were Trade and Agriculture officials. When asked by
reporters on the logic of opting to export locally
produced sugar rather than first ensuring local supply
and exporting only surplus, government officials were
quick to point out that good economics dictated such a
strategy. The Philippines can make more money selling
its sugar abroad, and in just importing its own needs
from cheap foreign producers. Anyway, sugar was readily
available in the world market.
Indeed,
the strategy made sense: buy low, sell high. Import what
one needs but cannot produce cheaply, and export what
one can sell for a high price. Invariably, industries
should focus on what they can produce well and sell high
abroad. If an item is cheaper to import than produce
locally, then by all means import it. However, the
sticky part is that this strategy presupposes that
whatever it is that one needs is always readily
available in steady supply—and it will just be a matter
of having enough money to buy from abroad and bringing
it in.
Unfortunately, that is not the case of late,
particularly with rice, corn and wheat. One can be more
forgiving when it comes to sugar—a commodity that some
say is reserved for the kings. More a luxury than a
basic necessity, one can argue that man can survive
without table sugar, and maybe even coffee, but not
necessarily without a basic staple like rice or wheat,
or even table salt. In the case of grains, the country’s
lack of self-sufficiency has become apparent. And this,
now, becomes a strategic problem since world supply is
also at a low. Despite having enough foreign exchange to
continue importing other countries’ surpluses, the
Philippines now faces a situation where there are more
buyers than sellers—more demand than supply. Obviously,
one cannot simply throw more money in the problem’s way,
which brings the country back to Art Yap and his team at
Agriculture.
Food
security, more than anything, is most important to
national survival. It is now the biggest threat to
national and political security. Without doubt, the risk
of social and political unrest is now high. How the
government manages and copes with the problem is most
crucial now to the public—it will make or break Art Yap.
Making sure people have enough to eat in the years to
come should also be the main preoccupation particularly
of all those seeking the presidency in 2010, unless it
is their intention to lead a hungry country into
oblivion. But all their initiatives should go beyond lip
service and campaign rhetoric. The critical situation
demands immediate action by all sectors working hand in
hand.
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