MANILA, Philippines -- Rice-unfriendly landscapes, typhoons and high population growth keep the Philippines from being rice self-sufficient, the chief of the International Rice Research Institute said Tuesday.
"This is not a new phenomenon. The Philippines has for the most part been a rice importer," said IRRI director general Robert Zeigler at the sidelines of the ongoing 5th ASEAN informal meeting on science and technology in Manila.
The Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, has a population growth rate of 2.04 percent. About 20 typhoons visit the country each year.
And while rice exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam have large river deltas and flatlands, the Philippines has more uplands, Zeigler said.
But the Philippines seems committed to achieving its target of rice self-sufficiency by 2013, Zeigler said.
”Varieties have already been developed. There are management practices to allow varieties to produce near maximum," he said.
The IRRI chief said the country's irrigation infrastructure needs to be refurbished to deliver water in a timely manner. He said post-harvest technologies should be taught to farmers so that the rice gets to the market.
"There is a great need that the latest technologies be delivered to the farmers in a way that they can understand,” he said.
On top of high-quality seeds and appropriate fertilizers, Zeigler said the farmers need to know how to effectively apply these farm inputs.
"We have a rice crisis…but it remains manageable," said the head of the Philippine-based institute. "All governments seem to be addressing the rice crisis situation seriously."
However, Zeigler blamed "policy failures" of various governments particularly those that lead to rapid urbanization, resulting in fewer farmers and shrinking farmlands.
5 comments:
The problem of typhoons, sometimes I was wodering what are the government doing these days. Because every year typhoon come one by one, people die one by one, houses destroyed. Why isn't there any changes at all? The same thing happen every year, why aren't they do something about it?
dapat makaisip na ang gobyerno ng strategies kung papanu nila masasaiayus ung problema na to.
i think that even though our country always has man typhoons we can still be a rice sufficient country because i heard that IRRI is now making a crossbreeds of rice so that they wouldn't be destroyed if they are to be kept under water for a long period of time.
Typhoons frequently come and visit the country, but it's the same old thing that happens - the rice field get destroyed. In addition, population is also a factor, because more people means more mouths to feed, but we now have a limited supply of rice. The government should think of ways to solve this crisis in order for our country's economy and people to still stay in the game.
We are overpopulated, typhoons keep on coming. Everything in life is scarce and we need to be efficient. We should have family planning first, and a better weather forecast. Rice is needed by everyone in the Philippines and we are always on the way of a typhoon. More typhoons = lesser rice produced. More people = lesser rice for other people.
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