Villar’s misguided suggestion

Gideon Lasco’s column titled “Unlimited rice, empty stomachs” (Opinion, 6/22/17) noted that Sen. Cynthia Villar’s suggestion that fast-food chains be prohibited from offering “unlimited rice” drew much resentment and ridicule. It concluded that in the age of “unli rice,” no Filipino should have to live with empty stomachs.

In my letter titled “Right dev’t path to make PH more than self-sufficient in rice” (Opinion, 5/24/17), I wrote that the majority of our elected officials do not see much benefits to be derived from agricultural development. So they prefer more investments in infrastructure projects.

Senator Villar’s family is heavily invested, and entrenched, in the real estate business—an enterprise that has caused massive conversion of rice lands. It is understandable that she does not want to highlight the perennial deficiency in rice production as a rice crisis. Moreover, her son, elected Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar is now the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the government agency that will implement the massive public investment in infrastructure.

In order to understand the rice crisis, there is a need to analyze two key variables—the size of irrigated lands and the size of the population.

Based on data presented in the CIA World Factbook, China has 50 hectares of irrigated land per 1,000 persons; Vietnam has 49 hectares; Indonesia has 25 hectares, and the Philippines has only 16 hectares. The figures indicate that China and Vietnam, relative to their respective populations, have irrigated lands three times more than those of the Philippines; therefore, they have the highest index of rice abundance which allows them to export rice.

Indonesia has almost twice more irrigated rice lands per 1,000 people than the Philippines, which makes it self-sufficient in rice, and possibly enables it to export rice.

The above data clearly explain why the Philippines is far from being self-sufficient in rice, which shows in its perennial practice of importing rice.

The Duterte administration must implement a Philippine Development Plan that, while driven by the service sector, gives priority to the fledgling farming sector. There is an urgent need to provide more arable lands with irrigation systems—only 30 percent of arable lands have irrigation, as compared to Vietnam’s 70 percent.

In other words, the Philippines has a chance to catch up with its neighboring countries in terms of becoming self-sufficient in rice and reducing extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

EDMUNDO ENDEREZ, eenderez@gmail.com