Solving our rice, agri problems

All eyes are on the agriculture sector these days.

Some of the country’s tycoons are putting on their farmer’s hats and are betting big on the industry.

They want to help solve food security, they said. They also want to ride on the high commodity prices.

President Marcos has chosen to lead the agriculture portfolio himself, reflecting the importance he put on the sector.

But seven months into the new administration, our farmers and fisherfolk are still plagued by the same supply and production problems.

Rice

How then do we solve, once and for all, the challenges in agriculture? Let’s start with rice. Is hybrid rice really the solution?

The President is trumpeting hybrid rice, having met recently with officials of SL Agritech led by businessman Henry Lim Bon Liong. President Marcos approved the production of hybrid rice to boost productivity, he announced through his social media accounts.

I could feel his excitement, having posted on the subject twice in just a matter of days.

The intention can only be good for the country but on a practical level, there are challenges.

For one, hybrid rice seedlings aren’t cheap. About P200 per kilogram compared to only P28 per kg for the normal seeds, according to the latest available data on the internet.

Aside from the cost of seeds, fertilizers also come with a cost as hybrid rice requires more fertilizers as compared to certified seeds.

Thus, the government must subsidize farmers not just for their seeds but also for the cost of fertilizers and pesticides.

Water for irrigation

Water, of course, is also an issue as it would require irrigation. Water, however, is not always available and it doesn’t come cheap. Add to that the dry weather conditions, which have been worsening in recent years, no thanks to climate change.

Hybrid rice seeds are bred from two very different parents, known to display “hybrid vigor” and are expected to out-yield inbred rice varieties, according to SL Agritech.

It’s the reason it isn’t cheap. SL Agritech, however, said the additional costs to be incurred would be worth it because the use of hybrid rice seed increases the average yield. The yield has so far increased to 6.9 tons per hectare from 3.6 tons per hectare previously since the launch of Masaganang Ani 300 program in 2020.

Against this backdrop, I believe hybrid rice is only one of the solutions in solving the rice problem but may not necessarily be the best answer.

Expanding capacity

Indeed, there are also other solutions which may be easier and more practical to implement.

I asked, for instance, businessman Antonio Tiu, who has been in the agriculture industry nearly all his life and he said that we can easily boost our annual agriculture production by providing producers post-harvest facilities and local storage capacity.

It means the government must provide post-harvest facilities such as dryers or cold storage for the different commodities – including rice – in their production areas.

This can minimize post-harvest losses which can sometimes reach 40 percent during the rainy season.

They can store their produce, including excess production, in order to have enough supply during off season to fetch a better price.

Cold storage solutions

Indeed, we should be providing cold storage solutions for producers of onion, garlic, fish, etc. and dry storage for rice and sugar, Tiu said.

The solution to addressing the supply and demand gap is not to keep on increasing production as this will just push the price of the commodity during harvest season even lower.

Instead, the solution is to extend the shelf life of the products so that producers can sell them at the right time. This would also reduce spoilage and shrinkage, as in the case of onions for example.

Actually, if we have enough storage, we probably do not need to import. Imagine, we are now importing even our favorite galunggong.

Tiu’s solutions are indeed very doable. In fact, he said, this was what we did during the time of Marcos Sr. when the government put up the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI).

FTI was used for warehousing, food processing and trading. It brought sellers and buyers together.

In 1989, however, FTI operations were suspended as the economy was in shambles and the political environment was uncertain. Cold storage services also stopped due to technical problems and viability concerns.

During the Duterte administration, there has been a plan to revive it and make it the leading food and processing and distribution hub in the Philippines by 2030.

Will the Marcos administration push through with this plan? We have to wait and see.

Getting people interested in agriculture

Moving forward, we also need to get the young people interested in agriculture so that food production will continue for generations and generations to come.

Tiu himself has resigned from his other businesses to focus on agriculture, recognizing the need to really boost production and help ensure food security for the country.

He believes this can happen with the help of technology and providing enough support to farmers.

It’s good that President Marcos is paying attention to agriculture, but more needs to be done in improving supply, which is a major culprit behind our high inflation, which stood at a 14-year high of 8.7 percent in January.

As I discussed, practical solutions such as putting more post-harvest facilities for our farmers, especially those in their production areas, can significantly change the game.

It will also address our scorching hot inflation.

But implementing these solutions requires a full-time secretary of agriculture. Perhaps it’s about time that President Marcos finally appoints one.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.