News about the rice shortage is everywhere! I don't know what the real situation is but TV Patrol makes it seem everyone is in a panic. The big issue in the Philippines is now RICE. Suddenly everyone forgot the ZTE scandal. Rice took the spotlight away from Jun Lozada. I can see someone named Mike smiling from ear to ear. Hehe!
Anyway, for someone like me who doesn't know much about the agricultural society and the rice industry, it is surprising to know that we are actually that short on our rice supply and that the country has been depending on imported rice for years and years now. I thought the Philippines is an agricultural country. The image we've always had about us Pinoys is that we have ricefields and we plant rice. We have rice for every meal. One of our greatest landmarks is the rice terraces. Rice, rice, rice. Yaddah, yaddah. The reality, apparently, is the local industry is dying. The rice Pinoy's eat is not Pinoy rice. Our farmers decreasing, farm lands are being converted to anything but for agricultural use, and funds going to, ehem, importing rice (with "little" sums going to someone else's pocket!). I think we produce more workers to send abroad than sacks of rice.
Ny idol, Randy David, wrote this article about the rice shortage. Hehe. Very enlightening. Kaya ko to idol e. Haha! He pointed out that the government chose to import rice instead of helping the local farmers meet the needs of Pinoys. Kasi nga naman daw, cheaper and, ehem, pwedeng maka-kickback! Sabi ni idol Randy, the government (not just this government but also the ones that came before this) did not and does not encourage agriculture in the country. Instead, they push people to work abroad. They let the economy depend on the remittances of the Filipinos working on foreign soil. Napaisip tuloy ako. Is labour the number one product exported by the Philippines? Wow. Grabe. Hindi ba napaka-unstable nito? Pano kaya to in the long run? Magiging official national symbol na ba talaga ang Balikbayan Box?
Anyway, for someone like me who doesn't know much about the agricultural society and the rice industry, it is surprising to know that we are actually that short on our rice supply and that the country has been depending on imported rice for years and years now. I thought the Philippines is an agricultural country. The image we've always had about us Pinoys is that we have ricefields and we plant rice. We have rice for every meal. One of our greatest landmarks is the rice terraces. Rice, rice, rice. Yaddah, yaddah. The reality, apparently, is the local industry is dying. The rice Pinoy's eat is not Pinoy rice. Our farmers decreasing, farm lands are being converted to anything but for agricultural use, and funds going to, ehem, importing rice (with "little" sums going to someone else's pocket!). I think we produce more workers to send abroad than sacks of rice.
Ny idol, Randy David, wrote this article about the rice shortage. Hehe. Very enlightening. Kaya ko to idol e. Haha! He pointed out that the government chose to import rice instead of helping the local farmers meet the needs of Pinoys. Kasi nga naman daw, cheaper and, ehem, pwedeng maka-kickback! Sabi ni idol Randy, the government (not just this government but also the ones that came before this) did not and does not encourage agriculture in the country. Instead, they push people to work abroad. They let the economy depend on the remittances of the Filipinos working on foreign soil. Napaisip tuloy ako. Is labour the number one product exported by the Philippines? Wow. Grabe. Hindi ba napaka-unstable nito? Pano kaya to in the long run? Magiging official national symbol na ba talaga ang Balikbayan Box?
This issue is so hot right now. Pati hoarding ng rice uso na daw. Tsk. I wonder how will the government solve this problem. Surely they can't just give away NFA rice forever. They have to solve the problem and make sure the shortage will not happen again. They HAVE to, yes, but the crucial question is will they choose the right course of action? That remains to be seen.
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