|
CITY OF
MALOLOS—The government must come out with a holistic
approach to address the problems besetting the
agriculture sector in order to come out with a
sustainable and doable food-security program.
Thus
said Pablo Rosales, secretary general of the Pambansang
Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid (PKKM), an allied
organization of the Kilusan para sa Pambansang
Demokrasya.
In a
position paper, Rosales said the recent rice crisis led
the price of the staple food to increase more than 100
percent.
Although
the problems on food security were felt globally,
Rosales said in Filipino, “The root of the local crisis
is an internal problem, therefore, the problem can be
solved internally.”
Rosales
explained that as the population keeps on growing,
there’s a dire need for a sustainable food- production
program. Instead, there was a marked increase in land
conversion of prime agricultural lands into industrial,
commercial and residential purposes; and farmers have to
contend with ever-rising costs of agricultural inputs,
causing food production to fall short of expected
levels.
He also
noted that the country is a major importer of rice in
the world market.
Palay
and rice traders in Central Luzon are also clamoring for
the government to procure much cheaper local rice
instead of the higher-priced imported rice.
They
claimed that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap personally
admitted at the height of the rice crisis that the
country’s staple food is priced much lower compared to
neighboring countries.
They
added that instead of procuring the costly imported
rice, the government should have instead bought local
rice that is much cheaper; this way the country could
have saved on its dollar reserves.
What
happened, the traders said, is that with the heavy
infusion of the government-subsidized imported rice in
the local market, the local rice industry suffered heavy
losses.
As a
result, they added, the government also incurred
millions, if not billions, of pesos in losses for
subsidizing the imported rice; and even commercial rice
and palay traders, including local farmers, languished
in business woes.
The rice
crisis, including the problems encountered by vegetable,
swine, cattle and poultry growers, Rosales said, are
clear manifestations of the government’s lack of
sustainable programs for the local agriculture sector.
These
problems are aggravated by flaws in the agrarian-reform
program, the lack of irrigation projects and failure to
rehabilitate existing ones, the very minimal government
subsidies on food production, among others.
In
Bulacan province alone, National Irrigation
Administration and local officials admitted that
thousands of informal settlers have constructed their
houses along and to some extent on top of irrigations
canals; thus impeding the water flow to farmlands and
causing irrigation problems, especially near the
tail-end of the system.
Adding
insult to the current state of food insecurity,
according to Rosales, are reports of anomalies on, for
instance, the Quedancor funds for the agriculture
sector, the fertilizer scam and perceived graft and
corruption in the release of government funds for
agriculture projects. |
