Rice self-sufficiency: the elusive dream (Part 1)

Before I entered PhilRice in 1993, I really didn’t care whether my country was self-sufficient in rice or not, as I only know about raising strawberries and knew rice only as food on the table with or without viand (there was milk or sugar to eat it with anytime, anyway, as my Ibaloi husband would recount always of his foreigner cousin’s line: “In Bodihew, I ate dabay!” , but that is another story). When I entered PhilRice, I sort of just embraced the policy of rice self-sufficiency which I read was PhilRice’s ultimate mission. I even brought this optimism to graduate school so that in one of our courses in Macroeconomics, when our professor asked about the policy direction of PhilRice, I proudly and nonchalantly answered “rice self-sufficiency”. The reaction of my Professor which I so remember to this date was a dismissing “God bless PhilRice!” The comment kind of breached my optimism and made me wary about every news of a projected target year when rice self-sufficiency will be achieved. True enough, every change of administration, every change of Agriculture secretary brought a new target year. Yet there never was a target year met.

Ten years after, I got a chance to work with a Harvard-graduate, former Department of Agriculture policy planner, then IRRI economist who opined, complete with facts and figures, about the ‘difficulties’ of the Philippines’ short-run self-sufficiency policy and the wisdom of probably following the Malaysian rice policy path still not forgetting to work for self-sufficiency in the long run. This time in my mind, “Well maybe, it’s really not too bad if we are a little less than self-sufficient, we can always import from our neighbors and it is even cheaper.” I actually felt better knowing that our being not self-sufficient was not really because our farmers are lazier or our technologies cruder but that really, we are just less endowed with land and rivers. It bred a new line of optimism in me: maybe, it’s not just about rice self-sufficiency at all costs; maybe it’s also about diversifying farmers’ income, diversifying crops, and improving the rural non-farm economy.

Bringing with me this new optimism, I left PhilRice again for graduate school only to witness from a distance the soaring rice prices in my beloved country, the seemingly lack of rice in the world market, the alleged hoarding of rice by rice-exporting countries, and the wild search of explanation for this ‘event’ by PhilRice and IRRI policy researchers. At one point, I personally witnessed how fishers’ wives scrambled to Gloria’s Bigas ng Bayan every Tuesday mornings in Sagurong, San Miguel Island in Albay to get their P18 per kg-NFA rice because the markets were selling at P30 to P35. While the seller (the owner of the house where I stayed in the duration of my field work) was instructed to sell only to the poorest of the poor households, this policy led to conflicts over who is poor or not, so what she did was to defy the policy, make her own schedule, and ensure that all households get a share of the village allotment. The stark reality of the benefits of being rice self-sufficient once again dawned on me. (At that point, I was mighty glad I was working on a research subject related to marine resource conservation, not on rice socioeconomics or policy!)

Now I am back in the Philippines: new Philippine president, new Agriculture secretary, same policy direction: rice self-sufficiency at all costs; rice self-sufficiency to be achieved in 2013, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2025 (a.k.a in the secretary’s term of office). Now I am back at PhilRice: new director, seemingly new R&D programs, same policy direction: rice self-sufficiency at all costs. (Now I am back at PhilRice: a household of my own, P30 per kg rice, a son who eats ‘dabay’, a husband who eats 2 cups rice and now half, same policy direction: save on anything but not on food; rice self-sufficiency at all costs!)

So (after that long introduction), what is my “take” on rice self-sufficiency?

Policy direction: Sustainable rice self-sufficiency

Year it can be achieved (business as usual): unattainable

Year it can be achieved (with interventions): ~ 2040 onwards

How? (Old solutions, not short-term solutions) Water, water, water and seeds

Reliable, controllable and affordable irrigation water supply

Facts and Figures

• Average yield in irrigated ecosystem has more than one ton per hectare advantage over rainfed areas
• Around 600,000 hectares difference in area harvested during wet season and dry season
• Around 9% of the increase in yield from 1997 to 2007 period is owing to irrigation (Mataia, et al., 2009)
• Around one ton per hectare yield difference between irrigated wet season and rainfed wet season
• Around 1.5 ton per hectare yield difference between irrigated wet season and rainfed wet season
• Technology adoption is much higher in irrigated ecosystem (PhilRice-SED data)
• Reason for non-adoption of existing crop management technologies especially on land preparation, nutrient management, land preparation : unreliable, uncontrollable or unaffordable irrigation water supply
• The existing package of modern rice technologies works best with proper irrigation.

Pragmatic solutions (not short-term)

• Government must have the political will to rehabilitate existing irrigation systems and invest in new feasible large irrigation systems and small-scale irrigation systems, too
• "Incentivize" private investments in small-scale irrigation systems
• Gasoline/diesel price stabilization
• Watershed improvement (forest watersheds and lowland watersheds)
• Call for applicable low-cost technologies for rainwater harvesting (aside from dams)
• Explore pond system common in China

Better seeds

Facts and Figures

• Adoption of high quality seeds is the main driver of yield growth in recent years. Around 18% and 15% of the increase in yield from 1997 to 2007 period is owing to use of certified and hybrid seeds, respectively (Mataia, et al., 2009)

Pragmatic solutions (not short-term)

• Increase budget for R&D
• Target area planted to high quality seeds by LGU

And now for some wild ideas (Facts and figures on the making):

• At least 1 single rice-farming household member to work as OCW for at least 5 years

• At least 1 household member of a rice farm household given scholarship for tertiary education

• Improving the rural non-farm economy

And some moves that just might contribute:

• Support RH bill!
• Privatize extension system for selected rice technologies