OROQUIETA CITY: Governor Loreto Leo Ocampos tipped off an imminent surge in prices of rice and corn next month citing the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans, also known as global warming, as the main reason.
Rice is the food staple for 2.4 billion Filipinos and provides more than 20 percent of daily calorie intake and up to 70 percent for the poorest of the poor.
The governor’s warning come on the heels of an earlier notice aired by fellow governor Joey Salceda of Albay who said that the country will face a food crisis in April.
A day after Salcedo and Ocampos’ pronouncements, a news release forwarded by the National Statistics Office (NSO) to the PANGUIL BAY MONITOR reported that rice and corn import prices rose dramatically since January, this year.
Statistics from the NSO noted a price of rice gain of 7.5 percent in January while the price of corn rose 4.2 percent since late 2007.
A report from the Business Mirror last week also said that rice stocks in the country stood at 1.83 million metric tons (MMT) as of Feb.1, enough to last for two months.
This report was quoted from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics.
Aside from the reason stated by Ocampos, the NSO added that the rising cost of rice, corn and other cereals were said to be driven by soaring oil prices, natural disasters, freight rates and the ever-increasing consumption of rice by Filipinos.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), a rice research and training center based in Los Baños, Laguna, confirms the high consumption of rice among Filipinos as well as the depreciation of the US dollar as those partly to blame for high rice prices.
As this developed, the price of coconut, the country’s largest farm export, is likewise predicted to push up due to high oil prices. This might include sugar too in the near future.
Another looming crisis is the dwindling supply of flour from China, as claimed by the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFM).
Higher wheat and other grain prices in turn will create a ripple effect on the prices of bread and meat products, especially that pork supply remained tight nationwide because of a 20-percent decline in feed production since January, according to the Bureau of Animal Industry.
Ocampos validated his prediction in an interview aired over Patrol sa Kalamboan, the Capitol’s nightly television broadcast, that during his attendance in one of the cabinet meetings with President Gloria Arroyo, the prices of rice and corn were contemplated.
“Ang presyo sa bugas sunod bulan nga umaabot motaas na. Ang atong humay sa tibuok Pilipinas nag-shortage na. Kasagaran ani nga panghitabo mo-import dayon ta sa Vietnam ug Thailand pero kining mga nasura karon dili na mo-export, dili na mobaligya,” he said.
“Nagproblema sad ang Vietnam ug Thailand tungod sa glovbal warming kay misulod na ang parat nga tubig sa dagat ngadto sa ilang basakan,” he added.
The country buys rice mostly from Thailand and Vietnam to augment its meager production of the cereal.
Last Feb. 20, Thailand rice is at $469 per metric ton while Vietnamese rice was trading at $400 a ton.
The Department of Agriculture says it plans to import 2.1 MMT of rice this year, up from 1.6 MMT initially planned, the Business Mirror reported.
Filipinos consume rice more than what is produced. The United Nations warned that the Philippines may end up having to feed people to save them going hungry as the market price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households.
“Kini ang hinungdan nga paghimo ug mga irrigation system sa mga lugar sa nasod nga wala pay patubig ang nahiusahan sa mga sakop sa kabinete ni Presidente Arroyo sa ilang pinaka-ulahing meeting,” Ocampos disclosed.
“Dinhi sa atong probinsya, kini nga programa iyang sugdan pinaagi sa paghatag ug P1.2-million nga counterpart sa provincial government sa mga irrigation system sa Agrarian Reform Community Development Project (ARCDP) sa Gata Daku ug Kinuman Sur sa Clarin,” the governor added.
Ocampos went on the say that some 6,000 hectares of farmlands in the province is unirrigated
“Mao na nga ang focus nato karon, ang tubig kay importante gyud ang tubig sa irrigation. Hinoon sa tibuok Pilipinas ang Misamis Occidental walay problema sa tubig. Ang problema nato is tubig management: unsaon pagpatipas sa tubig paingon dinhi sa inyong basakan.”
Vice governor Francisco Paylaga Jr., who toured with Ocampos in his recent visit to Gata Daku and Kinuman Sur in Clarin, urged the residents of the two barangays to do their part in elevating the present condition.
“Ang kakugi atong himoon,” Paylaga quipped.
As this developed, the NFA office in Gango, Ozamiz City, through acting registration and licensing processor Kharen Retiza, told this paper in an email that their office is now advocating the Rice Conservation Program (RCP).
Retiza, who spoke in behalf of NFA provincial manager Avelino Orseno, is also NFA’s acting press relation officer.
The RCP is a joint undertaking of the NFA and the Department of Agriculture, carrying the slogan Kagutuman Sugpuin, Bigas Huwag Sayangin.
“We dont have a formal communication or guidelines on this matter from our central office yet, but verbally we have orders to advocate rice conservation starting within each families,” Retiza said.
“Families should conserve rice by cooking the enough measure, also with restaurant owners; they should lessen per serving of rice to avoid leftovers.”
“Every year, every Filipino wastes more or less than five grams of rice. That becomes sizeable when multiplied,” she said.
The NFA office in Gango has enough buffer stocks to mitigate the looming supply shortage, Retiza assured. MICHAEL MEDINA