A community of Ilocano farmers in Matalam, North Cotabato has shattered the lie peddled by the country’s economists that the Philippines could not be rice self-sufficient by increasing their annual production seven-fold with the aid of a Solar-Powered Irrigation System (SPIS).
From an average production of 3-metric tons per hectare once a year before the SPIS was built, the farmers of Barangay Manubuan, Matalam now harvest three times a year with an average yield of 7-metric tons or a total of 21-metric tons in one year.
The farmers association president, Tranquilino Pulanco, a retired teacher and former vice mayor of Matalam town, said that the Solar irrigation, high-yielding seeds, sufficient fertilization and modern machinery like tractor with rotavators and a harvester, helped them boost their production 7-times higher than their previous yield per hectare.
The Manubuan farmers’ true-to-life story effectively thrashes the contention of the country’s Economic Managers that the Philippines could never be rice sufficient because it does not have enough area to grow rice.
When I, as Secretary of Agriculture, announced in 2016 that the country could achieve Rice Self-Sufficiency by 2020 with the launching of the Masaganang Ani 6000 that aimed to increase from the national average rice production 3.9-metric tons 6-metric tons per hectare, the Economic Managers scoffed at the idea.
Instead, they pushed for the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law which allowed unimpeded rice importation from Vietnam, Thailand which brought down farm gate prices of local palay production.
Their promise that the retail prices of rice in the market would drop by at least P7 per kilo never happened as traders and importers controlled the flow of supply and pricing of rice.
They ignored the fact that the National Rice Self-Sufficiency Road Map was crafted by the country’s most outstanding rice farmers, whose production per hectare exceeded three-fold the national average yield, experts of the department and the private sector, including hybrid seeds companies.
The projections were actually science-based and validated by farmers actual experiences.
With a total harvested area of 4.9-million hectares per year, an increase of 2.1 metric tons in yield per hectare or an additional national milled rice supply of 6.2-million metric tons, would have given the country an annual rice supply 4.4-million metric tons more than shortfall of about 1.8-MMT at that time.
There were five critical components to the program:
1. Additional irrigation facilities and I proposed modern and renewable systems like the Solar-Powered Irrigation which Israel supported by offering a P40-B loan for SPIS to irrigate 500,000 hectares;
2. Increase in the utilization of high-yielding seeds, especially hybrids which had recorded harvests of up to 12 metric tons per hectare in national trials participated in by Seed Companies who were willing to support the national program;
3. Sufficient fertilization and soil nutrition support to be undertaken through a loaning program, not dole-out or subsidy, which would have been supported with a National Fertilizer Loaning Program forged with a Dubai-based Russian company;
4. Mechanization Program through the Agriculture and Fisheries Machinery and Equipment Loaning Program (AFME) of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council; and
5. Easy Access Credit through the PUNLA and PLEA Program through the DA-ACPC
.
With the requested special budget of P60-B for the program, the target for Rice Sufficiency was set for 2020 or four years into the 6-year term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Economic Managers, however, did not believe that the National Rice Sufficiency Program was achievable claiming that the Philippines does not have enough area for rice farming.
So, the requested budget and proposed programs like the Solar Irrigation were never funded.
In fact, I was publicly ridiculed and insulted for claiming that the Philippines could be rice sufficient, a statement which the head of the Economic Team described as just a tall tale or “Yabang.”
They then submitted to the President what they said was a better and more practical solution to address the rice supply problem – the unimpeded importation of rice from Vietnam, Thailand and other countries through the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law.
The price of rice in the market remained high and the promised reduction of P7 per kilo never happened. In fact, rice prices had increased by about P3 to P5 per kilo.
Meanwhile, the farm gate prices of palay had dropped from a high of P20 per kilo in 2018 to about P14 in most areas of the country today.
On the other hand, our contention that a National Rice Self-Sufficiency program was achievable even without expanding the rice farming area had been proven correct by a group of Ilocano farmers in Manubuan, Matalam, North Cotabato.
This is the perfect example of the Economic Managers’ Theory versus Experience by farmers on the ground.
With this development, people say I should be happy because I was vindicated but I am not.
In fact, I feel sad because we lost a lot of oppotunities – greater income for farmers, jobs for local workers, income opportunities for allied industries and the dreamed National Rice Self-Sufficiency Program.
Kung naniwala lang sana sila.
#FarmIsTheBestClassroom!
(This video material was prepared by the media team of the Mindanao Development Authority.)
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