vonjobi: wow, congratulations! kelan ang trip? i hope i'll be around when you come. had a good time with diosa last...
Keith Bacongco: Knowing Nograles and his Big Boss...garapalan na lang talaga.
Vinia Datinguinoo Mukherjee: Congratulations, PCIJ! Mabuhay kayo!
Lead Philippines: But without credible mass media there, what is left to protect the people..?
vonjobi: it's juned sOniDo.

Latest Message 5 months ago

hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources thank you ulit.
erika marie : P.S.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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Finding solutions to the impending rice crisis

Posted by: Karol Ilagan | April 3, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Filed under: Governance, In the News, The Economy

TO ensure a steady supply of rice for Filipinos and avert a rice crisis, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued an executive order last Tuesday authorizing the release of P5 billion in subsidies to rice farmers. Supposedly the biggest monetary support ever to be provided to food producers, this, experts however say, is a “mere drop in the bucket” given the magnitude of the agricultural crisis the country is facing.

“Five billion is five billion, but it’s a small amount to (be able to) fully address the problem,” says Dr. Teodoro Mendoza, a crop science professor at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños. Filipinos, Mendoza says, consume about 11.9 million metric tons of rice every year but the decline in domestic production and the flawed rice trading system have created a 10-percent shortfall. As such, Arroyo’s move, he adds, has long been overdue.

The bulk of the P5-billion subsidy is reportedly to be channeled by the Department of Agriculture for the irrigation of rice lands to boost production and stabilize supply and cost.

The World Bank, however, recently discouraged the idea of giving subsidy grants to farmers, saying that such a policy is “fiscally ruinous” as it estimated its cost to the government at an average of 1.6 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2000 to 2005. The Bank instead urged the government to reduce the tariff on imported rice.

Mendoza though cannot find any logic in the World Bank’s position unless, he says, the lending institution sees the P5-billion subsidy to farmers as a setback in the government’s efforts to settle its loan obligations with it.

“It’s unfair because other neighboring Asian countries get support from their respective states,” says Mendoza. “The cost of farm inputs has gone up and without any compensation, it would be very difficult to motivate farmers to produce more rice.”

Even Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has questioned the World Bank’s stance, explaining that state subsidies to farmers have greatly helped the United States and other countries attain high production in rice, wheat, and other agricultural products that they export to other countries.

For an agricultural country like the Philippines to experience shortage in agricultural crops is indeed quite an irony. But for years now, the government has been purchasing more than one million metric tons from other countries, making the Philippines the world’s biggest rice importer — a far cry from when it used to be Asia’s top rice-producing country. Last year, Philippine rice imports reached 2.1 million metric tons.

In the main, however, the solution undertaken by the government has been a continued heavy reliance on rice importation. But this is also turning out to be worrisome as a lot of rice-producing countries have recently opted to either ban or limit their rice exports to ensure that they can meet their own domestic need. Such restrictions were reported to have removed a third of the rice traded in the international market.

The curb in imports and the dwindling domestic rice production have in turn been causing the dramatic increase of commodity prices. The price of rice is projected to shoot up especially during the lean months of July, August, and September this year, and may even go between P50 and P60 per kilo once imported rice reaches $1,000 per metric ton and world oil price is pegged at $150 per barrel.

UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR) Dean Dr. Jorge Sibal insists though that two regions alone dedicated to rice farming, and with the right technology, would be enough to feed the whole nation.

To be sure, science is only half the solution to the rice problem. As former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Cielito Habito points out in his latest Inquirer column, “(d)eclining productivity has as much been the result of an institutional environment that gave little incentive nor capability for farmers to invest in productivity improvements.”

Besides the lack of government subsidies, Habito says what further aggravates the situation of Filipino farmers are the fact that they continue to receive farm gate prices that are hardly remunerative, even as rice cartels are also lording over rice trading. “And with farm credit continuing to be dominated by usurious informal lenders and traders themselves, farmers have little capability to spend for productivity enhancements even if they were available,” he says.

At the policy level, incoherence is what Dr. Rene Ofreneo of the Fair Trade Alliance is blaming as subverting efforts to develop the country’s capacity to be self-sufficient in rice and other agricultural crops. A former dean of UP SOLAIR, Ofreneo cites policies pushing for massive land conversion and trade liberalization as having caused the current state of food insecurity.

“The multi-dimensional nature of the crisis in the agriculture sector requires multi-pronged development interventions, which include reforms, job creation, and food programs for both the urban and rural poor to achieve genuine food security,” he adds.

Over the longer term, Habito brings up the need to come up with new approaches to the “age-old failures in the basics like irrigation, farm credit, and addressing the uncompetitive elements in the rice trading system.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 and is filed under Governance, In the News, The Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 people have left comments

US support price of her farmers is not designed to drive up productions of farm and dairy products. It is designed to make the cost of local productions low and make them competitive against the cost of imported products. You see, even a highly industrialized nation like the US takes to heart this protectionist spirit of her agricultural sectors, something our culture sorely lack.

The 1972 land emancipation decree of President Marcos did not drive up production of rice because it was only a political ploy. Land Bank did not have the money to support the emancipated farmers who were estranged from their previous landlords and were left to fend for their own without capital to continue cultivating their newly-acquired lands.

They ended up in the laps of the “loan sharks” which only drive the cost of production and after one crop failure, these emancipated farmers were once again eternally tied up with the local loan sharks who happened to be, by strange stroke of fate, their previous landlords.

Some enterprising landowners, who feared their land being subjected to land reform turned up their farm lands to subdivisions, thus removing large chunks of otherwise arable lands for housing instead of these lands producing rice.

The problem is four-fold. (1) we have farmers who refused to farm because there are no more incentives to farming; (2) lack of capital for those who are still interested in farming, (3) the total size of our rice lands has been greatly diminished because we have allowed it to be converted to subdivisions (4) distribution of an otherwise diminished productions is controlled by a Chinese/Filipino cartel who have no compunction in using this distribution scheme for politics or greed.

The government attempt to subsidize rice production with five billion in cash, while may be laudable, is only a patch-up solution. We need a comprehensive plan to rescue our farmers and our people from hunger and famine.

jcc wrote on April 4, 2008 - 12:04 am | Visit Link

Rice Crisis Solution

Everyone knows we have a rice crisis here in the Philippines and globally. There’s no need to place blame as you will see at the links a the bottom of the page, but for all of us to be a part of the rice crisis solution. We encourage the Philippine government, the private sector, and everyone involved in Philippine agricultural to help in providing short term, and more importantly, long term sustainable solutions to this food crisis and help the Filipino rice farmers in growing more rice which will help in providing more rice supply, and in bringing down rice prices to affordable levels going forward.

Philippine Agriculture Solutions

Nutriplant Philippines

http://nutriplantph.blogspot.com/2008/06/rice-crisis-solution.html

http://nutriplantph.blogspot.com/

nutriplantph wrote on June 17, 2008 - 12:18 pm | Visit Link