EDITORIAL - Half-rice

The proposal by the National Food Authority for the government to make it mandatory for Filipinos to eat less rice (in Cebu City an NFA official is asking for an ordinance requiring "half-rice" servings) is the best proof of NFA's inefficiency and failure.

First of all, the mandate of the NFA is to make sure the supply of affordable rice is sufficient at all times so that Filipinos will not go hungry, rice being a staple, or food they cannot do without. It is not the business of NFA to deprive anyone the right to eat as much as he can, provided he can pay for it.

Secondly, the NFA is way off in arguing that serving "half-rice" is synonymous with responsible rice consumption and is therefore in line with President Aquino's declaration of last year as National Year of Rice. "Half-rice" is just a measurement. Wasteful consumption is character.

Anyone can order even just a "quarter-rice" and still throw it away to the dogs. On the other hand, anyone can order full rice orders as many times as he wishes and consume every grain of it. In other words, it is not the how much but just the how.

It is making the distinction that matters. But even then, it is still not up to the NFA to make people eat less rice, or even to just suggest the same thing to government. To do so is to introduce a strange and ridiculous twist to its mandate.

If the NFA cannot meet its mandate of securing a stable and affordable supply of rice for the Filipino people, the problem lies not in people eating more rice or wasting what it can no longer eat. For as long as the supply is there and it is affordable, pursuant to the NFA mandate, there should be no problem.

But the problem is, the NFA cannot fulfill its mandate not because people eat more rice or are wasteful but because botched policies, graft and corruption, and sheer inefficiency have all conspired to make the NFA fail miserably.

One can still remember when, early on in this government, the new leadership at NFA proclaimed that the Philippines was now swimming in rice. Then, swallowing the NFA boast hook, line and sinker, government promptly bragged that the country was ready to export rice. So, what gives the plea for "half-rice?"