AVANT GARDENER
Rice is life, and this has never been more true than for Filipinos. Around 80 percent of the Philippine population spend a fourth of their income on this grain, amounting to about 33,000 tons per day, nationwide. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Philippines is the sixth highest consumer of rice in the world.
And yet, like many objects of desire, getting rice onto one’s plate has historically been fraught with challenge. Prices are volatile and can (often adversely) affect the base price of other consumer items as well.
The Philippines has been called the biggest rice importer in the world, yet according to an article titled “Analyzing The Rice Crisis in the Philippines,” by the Academics, Research and Development Department of Ateneo Economics Association in the Ateneo Economics Association (AEA) Blog, the country only imports 15 percent of its supply. Adding to this, according to the Department of Agriculture, the Philippines is the eight top rice producer in the world.
Why, then, do stocks always seem to be running out?
There are many reasons, some of them having to do with the way rice is produced and the process it undergoes to get to one’s plate. This includes inadequate water supply due to a lack of irrigation facilities, scattered agricultural lands that make it difficult to bank on economies of scale, unpredictable weather, increases in gas and fertilizer, the conversion of land into malls and subdivisions, systemic neglect and corruption, food waste, and so on. In short, a lack of support for local farmers on so many levels that has been going on for so many years, nobody can blame farmers for telling their children not to go into the family business, because small farming in the Philippines is usually a losing prospect.
One factor that affects rice prices, however, that the rice-buying public may be unknowingly complicit in, is generating artificial shortage. This happens when supply is taken out of rotation and put into storage, as with hoarding, when rice stocks are stored in warehouses instead of being made available in the market. But what does the rice-eating public have to do with this?
According to the AEA article, an exaggerated response, whether because of misinformation or a lack of comprehension about the real state of production, can cause suppliers to withhold stock even as consumers increase their purchases out of fear. In short, panic buying may encourage suppliers to hoard stocks to sell at a higher price at a later date. This means there’s more demand than supply, which can lead to an artificial shortage and a corresponding increase in prices. There may be no real shortage at all, just the public perception of it.
Economists suggest that importing rice will lower prices by making up for the unavailable stock in the market, but this only increases the country’s dependence on imports while basically letting hoarders get away scot-free. In the end, it’s the farmers and consumers who pay while hoarders enrich themselves off the blood and sweat of their fellowmen.
Along with the many things the government must do to lower the cost of production while also raising farmers’ profits (enough to entice young people to pursue a long term career in agriculture), it must also clamp down on hoarding, not just of rice, but of other similarly volatile crops like onions and garlic as well.
The country continues to lumber towards food insecurity, a massive machine losing cogs and spokes too small for it to notice until almost everything has fallen away. There has been constant clamor to shore up our ability to feed ourselves going back decades, but this continues to be ignored because the general public doesn’t think farming is glamorous (nor should it be made to be), much to the delight of the folks who profit unscrupulously from it.
But you know what’s even less glamorous than farming? Going hungry.
Famine chic isn't a good look on anybody.