For Year 2045! Ensuring Sufficient Food For 142-Million Filipinos

In a small room of a little known restaurant along Roxas Boulevard in Manila last night, former Senator Panfilo Lacson and I witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between a U.S. Seed Company and two State Universities for the start of a research program on Sorghum, Wheat, Barley and Alfalfa in the Philippines.
The simple ceremony witnessed by less than 30 people could be a pivotal moment for the country’s Food Sufficiency Program as it marked the start of an exploration on ways of ensuring that there will be food for 142-million Filipinos 23 years from today.
The Scott Seed Company of Hereford, Texas, whose owners, brothers Coby and Chad Kriegshauser, I befriended when I was Secretary of Agriculture, signed an agreement with the University of Southern Mindanao based in Kabacan, North Cotabato and the Central Mindanao University (CMU) in Maramag, Bukidnon to establish farms for the varietal trials of Sorghum, Wheat, Barley and Alfalfa.
Another University in the Northern Philippines will later be engaged in the program to conform with the scientific requirements of multi-location trials as suggested by Dr. Sailila Abdula, acting director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research.
Sorghum, Wheat and Barley are grains cereals which could complement whatever rice shortage the country would face and the good thing is that these crops could be planted in un-irrigated dry lands, while Alfalfa is an important feed for both big and small ruminants.
This research and development agreement between Scott Seed Company and the State Universities is a turning point in the Food Sufficiency Advocacy which former Senator Lacson and I had embraced.
By 2045, the population of the Philippines with a growth rate of 1.21% would be about 142-million and the estimated rice consumption would be about 16-million metric tons per year, that is 4-million metric tons more than what Filipinos need today.
We could not depend on rice importation because we are not the only country whose population will grow and demand more food supplies.
Our sources of rice – Vietnam, Thailand, India and others – will also have to feed a growing population hence the volume of rice exports will diminish.
Our rice fields, poorly irrigated with rice production programs controlled and managed by politicians and short-sighted Neo-Liberal Economists, may not be able to supply the cereals needed by the growing population.
Last night’s event was part of the preparation that we are making to ensure that the next generation of Filipinos, which includes my grandchildren Duane and Kristoff and their children, will have food to eat.
Many will not appreciate the importance of the simple signing of the MOU between the Kriegshauser brothers, CMU President Jesus Derije and USM President Francisco Garcia last night.
But 20 years from now, when food will be scarce and expensive, the next generation of Filipinos will realize that on the night of Sept. 3, 2022 in a small restaurant in Manila, a group of 30 people thought of them and made sure there will be enough food on their table.
#FoodSecurityPlanning!
#EnsuringFoodForFilipinos!