THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
Last week, we saw the escalation of an already-heated discussion on what some experts believe is a looming major rice shortage and a similarly sizzling debate on whether or not the national government should resort to the importation of basic food items to fill the gap of an alleged massive shortage in these staples, including rice, fish, pork, and fish.
Critics have blamed the national government for an alleged lack of foresight and failure to proactively address the perennial shortage and to put “permanent” solutions in place. It looks like the public no longer wants to hear palliatives and this may be the reason why a senior government official was heavily criticized for reportedly suggesting that Filipinos shift to several root crops as a replacement for rice.
The debate brought out a common fear – which our bid for food security is in a bind. Many have expressed that fear this way:” We are supposed to be an agricultural country that must be self-reliant when it comes to feeding our population, at least with the staple fare.” Others add: “In the 1970s, we taught many countries in Asia how to plant rice, and now, we are buying rice from them.”
The fact is there is no single country in the world today which can claim that it has achieved total “food security.” Even the biggest and “richest” countries are major importers of agricultural products.
The two global superpowers – the United States and China – are also the biggest food importers. In 2020, China spent some $200 billion to buy food from other countries, putting it at the top of the list. The US is in second place at about $150 billion.
In that list of the world’s biggest food importers are Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Two of our richest Asian neighbors are also on that list: Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Another rich Asian neighbor is also a major food importer: Singapore. Speaking of reliance on food imports, Singapore buys 90 percent of what its population eats from over 100 other countries around the world – a fact reported by the Singapore Food Agency. For example, this island nation imports oranges from Egypt, milk powder from Uruguay, and shrimps from Saudi Arabia. The world-renowned Hainanese Chicken Rice is based on fowl imported from countries like Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, and, lately, Indonesia.
The bottom line is that the importation of food to feed the local population or to fill gaps in supply is not an unusual practice and is not unique to the Philippines. It is a reality that governments around the world recognize and have adopted.
Many of these governments are also working towards reducing their dependence on food importation. They recognize that reliance on food importation makes their nations vulnerable to other risks to their security. Singapore, for example, is developing its capability to ensure that it can produce 30 percent of its nutritional requirements locally.
In our country, the experts point to two major challenges in our bid to have a secure supply of locally-produced food: climate change and the productivity of our arable land.
According to an article published by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the seasons of torrential rains and heavy drought are causing massive destruction in our agricultural and food production areas. “The effects of climate change manifest in pest damage, crop failure, and crop diseases, among others,” the SEARCA article said.
The other challenge is the dwindling productivity of land devoted to agriculture in our country. The fact is the size of local arable land has remained steady, even growing in recent years. The figure was 5.45 million hectares in 2011. The figure rose to 5.59 million hectares from 2013 to 2019. It was last reported at 13-plus million hectares in 2022. The question is, if the size of land is used to produce food is growing, are there gaps in the supply?
That would bring us back to the effects of climate change. And, perhaps, the rapid growth of our population plus the increased demand for food could be aggravating the expanding gap between supply and demand.
President Bongbong Marcos, Jr.’s significant attention to the challenges facing our bid for food security provides us with a source of comfort and confidence. Among his pronouncements before the global community upon his assumption to office last year was the need for countries “to invest in food security.”
Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Marcos, Jr. cited the need “to take concrete steps towards modern and resilient agriculture.” He underscored that “food is not just a commodity or it just a livelihood. He said “food is an existential imperative, and a moral one,” adding that it is “the very basis of human security.”
How are countries putting this into action?
There are reportedly more than 800 million people all over the world affected by food “insecurity” or the lack of access to their nutritional requirements mainly due to insufficient supply and poverty. It is comforting to note that the international community through the UN is collaborating in the effort to address this.
What matters a lot at this point is what the national government will do to lessen the sense of insecurity among our people. It may resort to importation to temporarily fill the gap in supply until local production can fill it. We may have to accept this option and not begrudge the government for having to adopt such an option. It is a remedial measure many countries in the world have embraced to feed their population.
(For feedback, please email to [email protected] or send it to Block 6 Lot 10 Sta. Barbara 1 cor. Bradley St., Mission Hills Subd., Brgy. San Roque, Antipolo City, Rizal.)