SOARING PRICES OF RICE

Photo Taken from Manila Standard Today

Manila Standard Today on the front page of its June 16, 2014 issue carries the story, Prices of rice, garlic, ginger rocketing. The reason: The supply s running out. According to a news report on DZBB 594, the main rice supply for Metro Manila comes from Central Luzon, specifically Nueva Ecija and, well simply, the rice suppliers just haven't been dumping [bagsakan] as much of the stuff as it would normally dump. According to the map below, its nowhere near harvest season anywhere in the Philippines so, as you would expect, the government's response will be to import the rice (as well as the garlic and ginger).

Photo Courtesy of IRRI

Philippines has never been self sufficient in rice in recent times. This is partly due to [or rather mostly due] to government's ineptitude in providing basic infrastructure and incentives for rice growers. One of my professors in college, the great Bernardo Villegas, since the 2000s has been complaining of the lack of farm to market roads and post-harvest drying facilities. Foreign travelers would remark that it is so quaint that Filipinos would continue to dry rice by the roadsides—the traditional way, they would say as a euphemism. But this is extremely wasteful and inefficient. Not only would the rice be at the mercy of wind and rain; foreign objects would also infiltrate the rice; pest could also get to it, but; more importantly, the moisture content would not have been sufficiently reduced leading to the faster spoilage of rice, preventing the accumulation of bumper crops and stockpiles for lean months such as today, let alone dry enough for international standards to be able to think of exporting it. Another government shortcoming would be land reform, and to be honest, I wouldn't know exactly what would happen if you gave farmers their land, they might just end up subsistence farmers, though with technology, the right seeds and irrigation, they might just create a surplus. Unfortunately, government is too engrossed with cash crops [read: capital intensive] such as sugarcane and fruits to think about its staples.

But let us not put all the blame on our wonderful and powerful government. Filipinos can also be especially wasteful and prodigal with their food. This wastage is well documented, I there are at least three studies that peg rice wastage at: P23million a day; P14.4million/day and; 3Tbsp/day per person. Imagine that. A lot of it goes to waste in the form of the hardened and browned rice stuck to the bottom of cauldrons and waste at fiestas, the Ilonggos have a particularly disturbing tradition of always leaving a little bit of rice on the plate, to show the host that you've had enough to eat. This problem has been so pernicious that lawmakers have decided to make it unlawful for restaurant owners to refuse to serve less than a full cup of rice, the reason being that a customer is less likely to waste half a cup of rice if that was what they got or asked for. So far, it hasn't been passed yet.

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I've thought about brown rice. Makati City has made it into a campaign, trying to educate people as to the health benefits of brown rice—it is rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and proteins and can also reduce cholesterol. However, it is also expensive, and this surprises me. Technically, brown rice is a “less processed” form of white rice, meaning that it undergoes fewer steps to become what it is, therefore, it should be cheaper. I think the main reason for its expense is branding. Brown rice can afford to be expensive because it is viewed as a health food and not as an everyday food. This is disheartening because I think it should be cheaper than white rice and if anything, it should be the “DFA” rice. I honestly believe that people would buy more of the stuff if it was cheaper and properly campaigned for. Some drawbacks: storage is trickier and it would use more fuel and time to cook, but there are ways around that.