THE government is set to declare a national food emergency that aims to “hopefully” force the high prices of rice to slide down and help the market work properly.
Ahem.
Bisan unsa na lay buhaton, palpak gihapon.
There was a time when BBM assumed the DA helm for several years and what happened?
From what I learned, there was no movement, there was even a time when the presiding officer during one ManComm meeting asked what was the difference between hybrid and inbred rice.
Susmariosep!!!
* * *
The regions are asked to upscale their rice production target, from minimum to maximum.
To hit the target set by the central office, nag-panic-panic intawon ang mga taga-region. They have to order everybody in the region to work double time to hit the target because they know that those who could not hit it would suffer administrative consequence.
So bisan dili angay tamnan og humay ang usa ka probinsiya tungod kay nihit og tubig, never mind, pananom gyod mo, kay ang importante ma-igo ang target.
For instance, many areas in Bohol are not suited for rice production because of water deficiency.
But duna may order from central office, hala, paspasan lang gihapon ang distribution of rice seeds and fertilizer bahala og dili angay basta maigo lang ang target.
Pag-report pa, igo gyod ag target so ang mogawas nga balita, on-target lang gihapon ang DA.
* * *
What is the reason for the high prices of rice in the market?
One reason of course is high production cost. Kon taas ang puhunan, mahal ang gastos sa mga labor, tubig, binhi, fertilizer ug uban pa, siyempre, mahal sab ang palay nga anihon.
The lending facilities offered by the government thru the Land Bank are not attractive to farmers.
Why – tungod kay daghan kaayo og kuti-kuti, daghan og kinahanglan i-submit, daghan og mga dokumento nga kinahanglan, 3-pages nga single space ang mga requirement, madugay ang pagpapirma, balik-balik pa sa bangko ug kalas kaayo og panahon. Dili parehas sa mga negosyante o mga 5/6 nga notebook ray pirmahan, gawas na dayon ang kwarta.
One basic ingredient for rice production is sufficient water supply. If the water supply is not sufficient, then there is no basis to expect high production. And we are talking here of irrigated rice land. In the case of un-irrigated rice land, water supply is dependent on rain, no rain means no rice production. Or even if there is, rice yield will always be low.
And many farmers have also adjusted their practices. Because of the high prices of fertilizer, they have resorted to using just half of the usual quantity of fertilizer so they can “fertilize” all the rice plots. Because of this, expecting a high yield is like mission impossible.
And of course, there is the more serious problem of rice smuggling. Smuggled rice are usually sold at an unusually low price, sometimes even lower than locally produced rice.
Ang ubang pumalalit, mo-agwanta na lang og palit og imported rice bahala og mahal kay mas lami man og quality ang imported rice.
And this leads to another perennial problem of local rice – lack of post-harvest facilities. Aside from that, we also have poorly-built and managed storage facilities, lack of rice or corn dryers that contribute greatly to broken and low-quality rice.
Because of poor quality, local rice can hardly compete with imported rice. And that’s a fact.
And finally, another brutal fact – our crops are, generally speaking, very vulnerable to climate condition. We still have to learn and implement a climate-resilient crops, especially rice.
Anyway, kanus-a kaha masulbad ang kamahal sa bugas?
