Rice crisis and the Good Shepherd

 April 13 this year was Good Shepherd Sunday and these words of Jesus must have fallen like a refreshing shower into the hearts of Filipinos who are racked with anxieties over the current rice crisis: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep… I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. because of this I give my life for my sheep… (John 10, 20-29)

A good shepherd would not allow his sheep to starve. He guides them to where the grass is abundant, and when they are thirsty he leads them to where the water is cool and clean.

As the government scrambles for emergency measures to avert shortage of rice, as the pila of hungry people becomes longer, many are beginning to see the specter of hunger on their doorsteps. Despite assurances by the current leadership that the country will not run short of rice for this and that reasons, fear has gripped them, and they have reasons to.

For the threat of hunger is not a local phenomenon. It is a world-wide one. Thirty-seven countries, including the Philippines, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, are presently confronted with food crisis. But the government says we have sufficient rice to feed our people. Even assuming this is true, what assurance is there that the price would not be beyond the reach of the average Filipino?

Oil prices are continuously escalating. As they do, the prices of food items also escalate. If, as projected by energy analysts, oil doubles in price in the next few years, would not the price of rice also double? It is now from P30 to P35 per kilo for ordinary commercial stuff. This means that if the trend goes on we would soon be buying this staple food at P60 to P65 per kilo. Can the average Filipino afford this?

 It is true that we have the NFA to subsidize the price of this commodity. But this agency cannot undercut the price of locally produced rice to a level which would not be attractive to farmers, otherwise they would not have the incentive to produce. The alternative is to use government funds to cover the expected losses, that is, if we have the funds. Even if we do, this can only be done for a limited period, otherwise our economy would take a nose-dive. What then should be our strategy?

Of strategies we have plenty. We have enough bright people, including world reknown technologists, in the decision corridors to craft our responses to this problem. But decades of action (or inaction) has not produced the results we desired. In fact, we have regressed, production-wise, through the years. Now we are among the world’s biggest importers of rice!

Clearly, there’s something missing in our collective efforts towards self-sufficiency. This something, I believe, is trust in God. We are a Christian nation so we ought to have a good amount of trust in the Lord. If we do, our efforts would bear fruit not only towards bringing in more food on our table, but also towards achieving a better economic status for our people.

Unless the Lord builds the house in vain are the efforts of workmen, the Bible says. In our case, unless the Lord plows the field in vain are the efforts of our farmers. Those complaints about unfavorable farm policies, insufficient government support, corruption and what have we – these are actually the plagues in our national effort to produce enough food. And we have these because we have forgotten God. We think we can do it all with our own talents and technology and without His help. How wrong we are!

Without me, you can do nothing, says Jesus. Have we not been hearing these words in the liturgy of the Word during the Mass? Yet how come we have been doing our thing sans awareness of His presence?

That’s why our reaction to the current crisis borders on panic. If only we remember that Jesus is our shepherd and that he cares for us, there would be no room for worries in our hearts. To assuage our fears, perhaps it is timely and proper for us to revisit Psalm 23, which reads: The Lord is my shepherd, I should not want./ He makes me to lie down in green pastures./ He leads me beside the still waters./He restores my soul./ he guides me through the path of righteousness for his name’s sake./ Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death./ I fear no evil, for you are with me./ Your rod and your staff are there to comfort me./ You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes./ You anoint my head with oil;/ my cup is overflowing….

Reflected on with faith, these lines cannot fail to dampen our anxieties and fears on our present predicament.

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