The Philippines, strained by the likely emerging of a rice cartel among Asian rice producing nations, on Friday announced stepped-up measures to achieve the country's rice sufficiency by 2010.
The Agriculture Department signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to boost domestic palay (unhusked rice) production, which is expected to exceed 17 million metric tons in 2007.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the cooperation would cover irrigation, technology, extension services and credit support.
In partnership with the IRRI, Yap said the government would target to harvest five tons per hectare starting in the wet season this year, compared with less than four tons per hectare on average in 2007.
"It is our prayer that we will see the day when bountiful and profitable harvest will assure that Filipinos can eat as much rice as they please with enough to share with the world," Yap was quoted by local TV network ABS-CBN News as saying in IRRI's headquarter in Laguna province.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was also present in Laguna to witness the event.
Rice is a staple food for 90 million Filipinos, but for the past decade or more, about 12 percent of the domestic rice consumption demand needed to be fulfilled through importation. It has imported 1.6 million metric tons from the international market for the year.
Yap said on Friday the government had contracted enough volumes to take care of the supply-demand gap for 2008 and the additional 675,000 metric tons of intended procurement amount of a May tender is done for purposes of buffer stocking. He said the government is firm in meeting its rice sufficiency target by 2010.
The cooperation with the IRRI was announced amid domestic criticism over the potential formation of a rice cartel among its Asian rice producing neighbors.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Wednesday said his government would try to create a cartel of rice-producing countries in partnership with Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, according to local media reports.
Observers say a cartel could sustain rice prices at their current historic highs and worsen a food crisis that is hurting rice importing countries, such as the Philippines, now the world's largest rice importer.
President Arroyo's economic adviser Albay Governor Joey Salceda said that the OPEC-like rice cartel proposal is "clearly a betrayal of ASEAN solidarity."
He said the emerging organization would control 75 percent of tradable rice surplus in the region.
"In crunch time, you only have yourself to rely on and to blame. Life is cruel," the national newspaper Philippine Star quoted Salceda as saying.
Abraham Mitra, who heads the House committee on agriculture, said the Philippines will undoubtedly be forced to grow more food by itself. "If we have the resources to grow rice, there is no reason why we should allow ourselves to be a hostage of any cartel," he said.
Agricultural pundits said shrinking of the limited arable lands for rice in the country, compounded by a fast growing population, is mainly to be blamed for the current supply shortage.
To boost production, the government has allocated 43 billion pesos (1.02 billion U.S. dollars) to a wide-range of agricultural programs that include subsidy to rice farmers and encouragement for the use of hybrid seeds.
"Pretty soon farmers will be able to access and breed seeds that are tolerant to certain diseases, flooding and dry spells," Yap said.
Source: Xinhua
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