Rice self-sufficiency
THE Philippines, an agricultural country where the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is located, hopes to attain rice self-sufficiency in two years time.
This, if the government succeeds in reorganizing the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its attached agencies, including the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
Like previous administrations, one of the priorities of the current government has been the eradication of smuggling, along with food security as well as unemployment.
Even President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. admitted that reorganizing efforts require coordination, convergence and coordination with other government agencies.
“If we can do everything we need to do…we will be close to self-sufficient for rice in two years,” according to Marcos.
Concurrently the DA secretary, Presaident Marcos made the statement during last Wednesday’s special meeting with top agriculture and NIA officials at Malacanang.
The young Chief Executive from Ilocos Note acknowledged that there’s a great deal of work to do to achieve rice self-sufficiency.
Note that during the administration of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos (FEM), the country was rice self-sufficient due to the government’s “Masagana 99 Program.”
In fact, the Philippines became a rice exporter during FEM’s time because of the success of the Masagana 99 Program, according to a group of farmers in vote-rich Pangasinan.
Aside from attaining rice self-sufficiency, the Marcos government also hopes to draw the poorest of the poor, including the farmers and fishers, into the social mainstream.
